How To Fall In Love
by Miss Mysty
Summary: AU.  Kisa Shouta has worked at The Emerald Cafe for years, regretting his failed chance at making money with his art.  Then along comes up-and-coming artist Yukina Kou, and he can't help but feel a certain pull towards the man.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was early in the morning as Kisa Shouta muttered to himself, drinking from a travel mug of tea and traversing the streets that led to the café he worked at. He hated morning shift, and he hated it even more now that he was trying to cut back on the coffee. How was a man supposed to keep customers pleased while only half-awake?

He glared reproachfully at his mug. The tea he'd gotten from the convenience store between his apartment and the shop was weak; it would've been better if he had taken the time to make some himself.

"Morning, Kisa."

The owner was always the first one there, no matter what. Kisa had to admire Takano Masamune's dedication, if nothing else. He'd brought Emerald Café from the deep doom of red straight into profit within a few months of buying it up. It hadn't been doing bad, per se, but as Kisa went into the bathroom and dumped the tea as a lost cause, he couldn't help but be glad that he was getting a steady paycheck. It wasn't always a guarantee three years before.

Kisa couldn't help but be somewhat depressed that he'd been working at the café for so long, though. He'd been an art student in college, after all, with big dreams to sell his work for millions of yen and live off the profits his entire life. It had never worked out, though, and when it came down to it, working as a waiter was more profitable than spending his day hoping he could make a breakthrough. He needed to pay the bills, after all.

"Here."

As Kisa walked out of the bathroom, changed into his uniform of black dress pants and a button-up shirt with a black vest, he found a cup of tea held in his face. When he glanced around it he saw one of the cooks, Ichinose. She usually made the fancy deserts, the multi-layered cakes and elaborately-decorated sweets people ordered if they really wanted to splurge. She also seemed to have a thing about taking care of Kisa, which Kisa supposed was better than her having a thing about trying to date the manager like she did most of the time.

"You're actually suggesting I have some of that Emerald Tea? Is it even ethical for us to drink our own product?" Kisa asked.

Ichinose frowned. "You look like you could use some waking-up. Takano-san isn't going to be lenient on you if you fall asleep in the back room again."

"So just get me some coffee or something," Kisa said, but he still took the cup and sniffed it. The café's signature tea was mint, and it was strong. It could wake you up just smelling it, let alone drinking it.

"Like you need that crap," Ichinose said, turning back to the kitchen. "Drink too much and it'll age you. You're thirty-four and still look like a teenager; I'd consider that a blessing."

Kisa certainly did, especially when male customers from the café wanted to 'get to know him' after his shift. Kisa certainly couldn't say he had no social life.

As Kisa sat down behind the counter, he took a sip of the Emerald Tea and blinked. He'd never drank it before for various reasons, and now he was thinking he'd have to do so more often. The strong taste lingered in his mouth and gave him a jolt right off the bat, waking him up from the zombie-like state he'd walked to work in. No wonder the tea was so popular, especially in the morning when they got customers who needed a pick-me-up on the way to work.

The café wasn't going to open for another half hour, so even though Kisa was awake, he found himself drifting off there at the counter, holding the warm cup of tea in both hands. Takano-san was walking through, the morning newspaper rolled up in one hand as he slapped Onodera Ritsu's head with it. His boyfriend of two years had been at the register, supposed to be counting the money they put in there for the start of the day but was already asleep on his feet. He jumped in surprise and went back to work, and Takano-san simply dropped the newspaper on the counter within reaching distance of Kisa.

Kisa reached for it, deciding that falling asleep wasn't the best idea when Takano-san was in that kind of mood, and he started flipping through. The weather was supposed to get hot, but Kisa expected that; it was July, after all. July meant more customers, though; children were getting out of school for summer break, and the café was air conditioned when possible.

He stopped when he got to a small blurb in the arts and entertainment section. An up-and-coming artist had had a show and sold some of his paintings for a lot of money. Kisa's eye twitched, and he secretly put the man, Yukina Kou, on his list of people to hate. It was a long list, to be sure, but it mostly consisted of men he'd slept with who insisted on chasing after him and saying that there had been more to it.

"Hey, isn't that Kirishima-san's gallery?" a voice said behind him, and Kisa turned to see another of the cooks, Yoshino Chiaki. "Yeah, Jump Art Gallery! It's cool that they're doing so well."

"If you say so," Kisa said with a sigh. He closed the paper, folded it up, and slapped it into Chiaki's chest.

Chiaki took it with a mildly confused look on his face. He was usually only seen outside the kitchen when the manager, Hatori, wasn't there yet. He was probably the best cook in the place, but he was prone to laziness and procrastination so he had to have someone constantly watching him to make sure he got orders done. There was usually a revolving shift between Hatori and another of the waiters, Mino. Chiaki was a lot less willing to drop into laziness when it was Mino's turn to watch him, though. Hatori would scold Chiaki and make him feel bad, but Mino would scare him witless.

Because Chiaki wasn't outside the kitchen much during his shifts, though, Kisa didn't interact with him a lot. Since the other two cooks, Ichinose and Mutou, were women, the customers often thought that Chiaki was as well. Chiaki didn't do much to stop them, especially since he didn't leave through the front at the end of his shift, instead opting for sneaking out the back before Hatori got a hold of him. He was a good cook, and the special chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting had been his idea when he and Hatori joined the staff, but he sometimes needed a reminder that it was his job to fill orders, not fall asleep or sit at the oven, reading manga.

Chiaki wandered back off to the kitchen, the paper still in hand. As for Kisa, he still had a mildly spiteful tinge to his attitude. Where Chiaki was glad Jump Art Gallery had gotten such a successful artist associated with them, Kisa couldn't help but wonder what made Yukina Kou's work sell where Kisa's never had the chance. And he was still young, too! He couldn't have been out of college for two years, considering he was twenty-four.

Kisa sighed and sat back in his chair, taking another gulp of the Emerald Tea. It was going to be a long day.

xxx

Kisa's shift had officially started at five, when Emerald Café opened for business. When his shift was close to ending at one-thirty, he was ready to go home and take a nap. If he'd had a later shift he might have flirted with one of the male customers until he found himself going to a love hotel with the guy, but two in the afternoon wasn't a very pleasant time to head over to the love hotel district by any means. Perhaps he'd catch up on his sleep and go to a bar in the evening. His biggest selling point was his young looks, but when a guy is drinking alone in a bar, he doesn't often question how a teenager got in.

It was probably wrong, Kisa mused, to let all those men think he was a teenager when he was probably older than them, but Kisa had never had much moral fiber when it came to how he got laid. Kisa liked to think he was just open to new and exciting possibilities.

"Kisa, one of your tables is up!" Takano-san called, and Kisa snapped his head up. He'd let his thoughts drift again, as they were wont to do when it slowed down between meal rushes. He really needed to work on that.

Kisa rushed over to the table, putting on his biggest smile when he saw one of his customers was an extremely handsome man. The other was a woman, of course, but one of the risks of going into The Emerald Café was falling victim to Kisa. It wasn't just men, of course, but Kisa had zero interest in women and never had, so the men were all he was interested in.

"Welcome to The Emerald Café!" Kisa said, and the woman smiled at him while her companion just looked around like he was shocked. Admittedly the place was rather pink, and that was probably why they didn't get many repeat male customers. "What can I get for you?"

"What do you want, Yukina-san?" the woman asked, turning to her companion.

"It's your birthday, so you order. You know I'm not picky," the man said with a smile. Kisa couldn't help but gaze at him as the woman considered all the options for cake they had for the day. He practically sparkled and wouldn't have looked out-of-place as a worker for Emerald Café at all. It was no secret that Takano-san had hired the new staff at least partly for their looks, after all. You got a lot more repeat customers if the waiters were easy on the eyes.

"Ooh, I think I'll have the chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting. And could we get some Emerald Tea?" the woman finally decided. Kisa nodded and wrote it down, his eyes still stuck on the man. The woman didn't seem to notice, but once her friend was done taking in his surroundings, he locked gazes with Kisa and had a rather interested look on his face.

Kisa quickly hightailed it to the kitchen to get the order in. The cupcakes had been made already, but the lunch rush had left them in need to brew more tea, so he had a while before he'd have to face them again. The man and woman had a rather animated conversation going on as Kisa just leaned against the counter. The café was small so there was very little you couldn't see from there, and so Kisa felt like less of a stalker than he might have. Kisa would've liked to say he had no idea why he had such an interest in this man, but that would've been lying. One of his admitted faults was falling easily for good-looking men. If Kisa hadn't vowed to go home and sleep until dinnertime, he would've tried harder in flirting with the guy.

Then again, it did appear as though he had a girlfriend. A girlfriend he was bringing out for her birthday and letting order whatever she wanted. He also seemed genuinely happy to be there with her. Kisa sighed and rolled his shoulders, feeling stiff from being on his feet for several hours. All the good men were straight.

"Hey, isn't that the guy from the article?"

Kisa jumped in surprise to see Chiaki had escaped from the kitchen in one of his rare instances of freedom. Mino was off for the day and Hatori wouldn't get in until three, so his only wrangler at the time was Ichinose, who was probably busy at the moment.

"What article?" Kisa asked.

Chiaki seemed to need to think about it, but then he finally said, "You know, the one you were looking at this morning, about Kirishima-san's gallery."

Kisa shifted through his mind. The only thing he remembered about the article was that it had made him angry that some newbie's work had sold for so much money, but as he pieced it together in his mind, he realized that Chiaki was right: there had been a photo along with the blurb, of the artist, Yukina Kou, along with the painting that had sold for the highest amount. It had been admittedly tiny, but that combined with the woman calling him 'Yukina-san' made perfect sense in his mind.

Chiaki was called back into the kitchen so he agreed and was gone, leaving Kisa to brood. All the good men were, apparently, straight and Kisa's secret, mortal enemies. If he didn't think Takano-san would kill him for it, he would've told Ritsu to take his table and left early.

"Order up, Kisa-san!" Ichinose called from the kitchen.

Kisa sighed and picked up the tea and cupcakes, two cups and two treats. It wouldn't do to brood over it while Yukina was still his customer. Takano-san's number one rule was to treat customers with the utmost respect and to give them excellent service, because if a customer is unsatisfied, they probably won't come back.

"Here you are!" Kisa said, smiling and doing his best to radiate the sparkly aura the Emerald Café waiters were known for. "And happy birthday! I'm guessing you and your boyfriend have further plans for tonight?"

"Oh this guy isn't my boyfriend," the woman said with a laugh, picking up her tea. "We went to college together and I like to drag him around because he has a hard time saying no. But thank you." She bowed before digging in. Kisa bowed as well, and as he went back to lurk at the counter, Kisa couldn't help but let his eyes drift back to the table.

Why were the guys he always fell for so bad for him?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Kisa had an afternoon to evening shift the next day, and by the time he went in at two, he'd put the encounter with Yukina Kou behind him. Unfortunately, with how little sleep he'd been getting lately, he hadn't even thought about getting out of his apartment and going to a bar that night. He barely had the energy to just take care of himself in the shower. If he didn't think Takano-san would handcuff him to the register at the mere mention of him quitting, he'd find a job with more stable hours.

"Kisa-san," Mino called as Kisa changed into his uniform in the bathroom like always. "There's a man here to see you."

"Take care of him for me would you?" Kisa called. Whenever someone told Kisa that a man was there to see him at the café, he knew what that meant. Kisa was honestly surprised that Takano-san still put up with his habit of picking up men from the café after his shifts. It might not have been so bad if a lot of those men didn't come back, thinking it had been about more than the sex.

For Kisa, though, it was never about more than the sex. He loved guys with nice faces, and he loved getting them in bed even more. On the bright side, there seemed to be some kind of rumor mill about him, and there would be guys who specifically went in to see him. It was more business for the café, if nothing else.

And, Kisa thought as he smoothed down his collar and got ready to face the masses, Mino really seemed to enjoy bouncing the more persistent men from the café. He couldn't keep his terrifying tactics just for Chiaki, after all.

When Kisa was finished and went out into the restaurant, he glanced over to see Mino and a man he honestly couldn't say he remembered that well. Mino was just smiling and occasionally saying things while the man looked angrier and angrier the longer the conversation went. Kisa sighed and just leaned against the counter. There was someone there ordering takeout but other than that, he'd managed to miss the lunch rush that day.

"Oh," came the voice of the customer who was waiting for his sandwich to be made. "Hello."

Kisa turned, getting the feeling he was the one being addressed, and he jumped. It was Yukina Kou, dressed for success, complete with a nametag that bore "Jump Art Gallery" at the top. On the one hand, Yukina was probably the last person Kisa wanted to see when he thought the day was going to be better than the previous one. On the other hand, Takano-san was right there.

"Hello," Kisa said with a sparkly smile, bowing. "It's good to see you back."

"Thank you," Yukina said, bowing. "You were my waiter yesterday, right?"

"Yep, I definitely was. I wouldn't forget that face," Kisa said, mild flirting to his tone. It was instinct, of course, and he mentally kicked himself. This was not a man he wanted to sleep with, no matter how good-looking he was. It would probably just end up in a lot of angry sex, and he didn't look like he was into that kind of thing. Kisa just cleared his throat and said, "I'm Kisa Shouta."

"Yukina Kou," Yukina said, because he didn't know Kisa already knew exactly who he was. A thought seemed to strike him, but before he could voice it, Takano-san was back with the sandwiches.

"Say hi to Yokozawa for me," Takano-san said with a smile, and Yukina nodded.

"You work with Yokozawa-san?" Kisa asked, surprised. He had assumed from the article that he just had a connection to the gallery through the show he'd done.

"Yes. I work for Jump Art Gallery, giving tours and things like that. They have audio tours but people seem to prefer the real thing." Yukina's shining smile left no room for Kisa to wonder why. "It gives me the chance to share my love of the paintings, so it's a good job for me."

Kisa twitched a bit as Yukina said goodbye and paid for his order. He had vowed to hate the guy before they even met, and now, he was starting to sympathize with him. They seemed to have a lot in common, even if the years since Kisa had graduated college and given up on his dream of being a professional artist had dimmed his own views. He hadn't been into Jump Art Gallery lately simply because the head of promotion, a man named Yokozawa, was always lurking around and Yokozawa unnerved him. He'd been an avid visitor in the past, though, as well as to the student gallery at his former college, T University.

"Kisa, get to work," Takano-san said, snapping him out of his thoughts. Kisa jumped and realized that Yukina had already left, and he nodded and went to a table where two high school-aged girls had just sat down. He was back into waiter mode, smiling and laughing as they both tried to flirt with him. As he took their orders, though, he found his eyes drifting out the glass windows to where Yukina was getting into a taxi.

Once they were finished ordering, he let out a little huff and went to put it in. There was no reason for him to care so much about the guy. He hated him, after all, and even if he didn't, he would've just been another one that Kisa had seduced and slept with.

Fearing that Takano-san would start yelling at him again, he quickly went back to the counter and at least tried to make himself look busy. When he glanced over to the kitchen, he could see Chiaki peeking out like he planned to make a run for it if the coast was clear. Just as he stepped a foot out, though, Mino came back inside from getting rid of Kisa's fling and Hatori came out of the back room. He screeched in fear and the door swung shut.

Kisa just sighed and shook his head. Some things never changed.

xxx

Kisa had a plan for the evening when he got out of work. One of the men he'd served had slipped him a phone number and a knowing look, saying to call him when he was done. The man was certainly easy on the eyes, Kisa would give him that much credit. It probably wouldn't be anything special, but he had the day off tomorrow and he could afford to go out and spend the night fucking a stranger, just like the good old days.

His plans got derailed, however, when about five minutes before his shift was supposed to end, Yukina Kou came wandering into the café alone. He had changed out of his work clothes, and Kisa couldn't help but notice the lines of earrings sparkling on both ears. He briefly wondered, as he gave his last table of the night their bill, if he had been wearing those earlier and he just wasn't paying attention. It was true that once Chiaki had pointed out who he was the previous day, he'd been trying his best _not_ to look at the man.

"Good evening, Kisa-san," Yukina said with a smile.

Other than Takano-san, who was pretty much there all day, the only other member of the wait staff there at the time was Ritsu. He was behind the register waiting for Kisa's table to go pay, and he eyed the two like he knew exactly what was going to happen. Only, when Ritsu suspected Kisa of going off and having sex with a random man, he looked more nervous than accusing. Two years in a relationship with Takano-san and he still acted like a blushing virgin. Kisa might have thought it was cute if he didn't suspect Takano-san could read his mind and would cut off his head for such an idea even idly passing through.

"Ah, hello," Kisa said with a smile and a bow. "I was just heading out, actually; my shift ended. I'm sorry I missed you!"

"Actually, Kisa-san, I was wondering if you'd go somewhere with me," Yukina said, getting straight to the point. Kisa blinked, but inside, he was wondering why his immediate thought was that Yukina was propositioning him. From what Kisa had been able to tell, he was a nice guy. He didn't walk up to random guys when they were leaving work and ask them to sleep with him. He wasn't Kisa, after all, and thank God for that. "Um, I wanted to ask you about something in my old college's art gallery. That is, if you weren't too busy tonight."

"…why would I know about something in your college's art gallery?" Kisa asked, but as Yukina followed him to the door of the staff room and waited for him to clock out and pick up his things, he found himself curious.

Yukina simply said, "I'll show you when we get there. So can you?"

When Kisa came back out of the room, instead of rejecting him, he just nodded. He didn't even remember to change into his street clothes.

Kisa had gone to T University, and when Yukina led him to the Arts campus, he started to get a suspicion about what Yukina had wanted to ask him about. Every year, one student from the graduating class got a painting in the student gallery. They showed paintings from up to twenty years ago, and since Kisa had been in there just a few months ago, he knew what he suspected he was being shown would still be there.

Sure enough, Kisa found himself standing before a painting that was washed in grays and drab browns, depicting an old house that was falling apart. Below was his own name and the year he had graduated along with the title 'Memories.'

"God I was angsty at that age," Kisa said with a laugh before Yukina could even ask him about it.

"So it is yours, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked. When Kisa nodded, he added, "I wasn't sure, because based on the date, it would have been twelve years ago, and you're…"

"Thirty-four, yep," Kisa said. "That house used to belong to my grandparents, but they moved out of it when I was about fifteen. When it came time to do a painting that would be considered for here, I went back to my old hometown and found it. Took a picture and worked from that."

"Normally my favorite type of painting is portrait, but I worked here as a student so I saw this every day, and I thought… how awesome it was, and how I'd love to meet the artist. But whenever I asked my boss about it, she said she didn't know what you were doing or where you went after graduation." Yukina looked over to Kisa, and the look of pure awe in his eyes almost startled him. "I think she just saw you as another student artist. But I didn't, and I'm really glad I met you."

Kisa blushed, looking away. It was embarrassing for him to be so openly complimented, especially by a man who had managed to do what he failed at: make a name for himself through his art. Given that it was almost eight at night, the only sound that Kisa really picked up around them was the rain outside. It had started sprinkling as they got onto the college grounds, and by the time they got into the gallery, Kisa had looked out a window and seen it was pouring.

The rain was beating down hard against the roof as Kisa and Yukina continued standing there, staring at the painting. The adoration Yukina had shown for Kisa had been cute, Kisa could admit it. Yukina started to say something, but he stopped when he realized Kisa had a hand on the small of his back. "Kisa-san?"

Kisa pulled him down by the collar of his shirt and into a kiss. He quickly plunged his tongue into Yukina's open mouth, relishing the low moans he drew from the man as their tongues twisted together. Kisa would've gone even farther if they didn't hear footsteps coming around the corner. Kisa pushed Yukina away, but not before saying, "Feel like coming over after this?"

Yukina just nodded.

xxx

Yukina and Kisa were soaking wet by the time they got to Kisa's apartment, but Kisa didn't care. He just pulled Yukina against him and leaned against the wall, kissing him deeply. They didn't even take the time to remove their shoes before Kisa was reaching down the front of Yukina's pants.

"Ah! Kisa-san…" Yukina gasped, arching into Kisa's grasp. He leaned down and caught Kisa's lips in a kiss, but he kept his hands at his side. He actually blushed when Kisa ground against him.

"You do know what we're doing, right?" Kisa asked. When Yukina blushed harder, Kisa sighed and rolled his eyes. "Are you naïve or just stupid?"

Kisa gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. Yukina had pushed him back against the wall and pulled his pants down out of the way. He found himself unable to keep teasing him as his voice was too busy making groans as Yukina jerked him off. His hand was a bit shaky but he still managed to reach out and start working on Yukina as well.

They both came at about the same time. Kisa was breathing heavily but Yukina was laughing with a mixture of relief and embarrassment.

"I'm sorry I didn't last longer, Kisa-san," he said in a breathy sort of way.

"I didn't last long, either." There was a certain amount of humor in his voice as he took Yukina's hand covered in his cum. He licked the fingers, and as Yukina's eyes drooped, Kisa knew he was getting aroused again.

Before Kisa could suggest going to his bed, though, Yukina took his hand out of Kisa's mouth and hugged him tightly. Kisa's eyes were wide, and he was rigid in Yukina's arms. He honestly had no idea how to handle this sudden display of affection, mostly because he couldn't remember the last time one of the random guys he slept with had really, truly hugged him.

Finally, Yukina pulled away and asked Kisa if he'd had dinner yet. When he said no, Yukina suggested he make something, since the novelty of eating-out probably was lost on him, working in a restaurant. After he slipped off his shoes and hung his still-dripping coat up on the nearby wrack, Kisa was still standing there, dumbfounded and wondering why he hadn't kicked the guy out by now.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

That night, Yukina left after dinner, excusing himself and saying he had work in the morning. This wasn't, of course, before doing the dishes despite Kisa's protests. It was weird, having a guy he had intended to sleep with being satisfied with just a handjob. He should've kicked the guy out when he saw that would be that, but he just looked so happy, standing there in his kitchen making curry. He thought more than once over the evening that he was a weird kid.

And, Kisa mused as he closed the door on him, probably had never been given a handjob in a guy's genkan before.

As if on cue, as soon as he turned from the door, his cell phone went off. He at first expected it to be the guy he'd planned to sleep with, until he remembered he'd never given that guy his number. When he actually checked the caller ID, he saw the name and sighed.

"You could have just come over, Shiori," he greeted his sister.

"I went into the café and Onodera said you left with a guy. I figured you'd be too busy." Shiori's tone was mocking. She knew all too well about her brother's habits and she was hesitant to just show up when she needed to see him. "…Shouta, please don't tell me you answered while the guy is fucking you."

Kisa couldn't say he'd never done that before, though not necessarily with her. He just sighed and said, "The guy's already gone."

"Damn you work fast," Shiori said in awe.

"Momma, do not curse!" There was her daughter, Shizuko. She was close to four, and Shiori was constantly trying to get him to spend time with her. Thus, Kisa had a feeling he knew what the call was about.

"Sorry, Shi-chan," Shiori said away from the phone. "Anyway, Shizuko wants to see you and I know you have the day off tomorrow."

"How do you know that?"

"Onodera told me."

"Well Ricchan is a liar!" Kisa huffed and fell back onto his couch. The dishes were still there in the sink, since Kisa had finally gotten the nerve to tell Yukina to leave. Or rather, he had meekly mentioned it was late, and Yukina had agreed, mentioned he had work, and said goodnight.

"Shouta," Shiori said sternly.

"Shiori," Kisa said less sternly. He stared up at the ceiling as his sister stayed silent, probably clearly thinking through her next attack.

"I'll be over to pick you up in the morning at nine. We can have breakfast." Her voice was firm, as if that was that. And it probably would be. Despite the fact that Kisa was a good nine years older than his sister, she still acted like the older sibling in the equation. The only reason he didn't spend a lot of time with her was because he usually ignored her calls as soon as her name popped-up on his cell's caller ID. "Oh and Shouta?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you call Onodera 'Ricchan'?" She had an accusing note to her tone.

Kisa couldn't help but smile at that. "Because he's cute. And no, I haven't slept with him. Takano-san would've had my head."

It was true. Just two months after Takano-san had taken over Emerald Café, he'd dragged Onodera Ritsu in with him and said he was going to be another waiter as well as the bookkeeper for the restaurant. He was good at his job, which mostly consisted of arranging the shift schedules and keeping track of finances. He was organized and determined, and it was clear from day one that Takano-san had his eye on him as more than just an underling.

Kisa didn't know the whole story, of course, but even he knew to keep away. So he had settled for calling Onodera "Ricchan" and making teasing remarks right up until they got together and moved-in together when their apartment contracts ran out. Ritsu had been so flustered the entire time, but Takano-san took it in stride, which Kisa supposed was good for him. A man less open about himself might have killed him.

Shiori sighed on her end of the phone and said, "You're way too old for your lifestyle, Shouta."

"Says you!" Kisa said, and he rolled over onto his stomach so he wouldn't have to look at his ceiling anymore. It was rather drab. "Besides, most of the guys think I'm a teenager, so they certainly don't think so."

"Okay, ew," Shiori said. "Do you have a thing for perverts or something?"

"Nah, I just take what I can get," Kisa said with a smile. He wasn't ashamed. Sure, there were the instances like Yukina who were still interested even after finding out he was in his mid-thirties, but they were few and far between. And, like every other guy, he most certainly did not plan to see them afterwards. Kisa glanced over at the dishes that were still draining in his sink and sighed. He'd have to do something about those unless he wanted to feel guilty about it. Kisa and feeling guilty didn't go well together.

"Ugh, whatever," Shiori said. "Just be ready to go tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'll see you then." Kisa sighed and ended the call before his sister could say anything else. And, just because he was feeling particularly angsty, he had a look around his apartment. It was messy, with takeout boxes on the floor and drawing pads scattered everywhere. If Kisa wasn't working or with a man, he was probably drawing. It got to the point where he didn't really have time to do anything else, or else he'd forget to do it and then just get something from a convenience store or order out. He hadn't bothered telling Yukina that he hardly ever cooked for himself. He had been surprised when it turned out he had anything in his cabinets, though.

He had put the man from earlier's number into his phone just so he could bring it up easily, and he decided that rather than internally bitch about his messy apartment, he'd call the man up and get a proper lay that night. As he searched through his contacts for the name, though, he found his eye twitching. "Yukina Kou" was in there, meaning that at some point, he'd picked up Kisa's phone and entered his information in it.

Kisa muttered and closed his phone, tossing it to the side. What a way to ruin the mood.

xxx

Kisa didn't, at first, think much of it when Shiori told him that she wanted to go to the Jump Art Gallery. The fact that Shizuko was willing to walk around looking at a bunch of paintings actually warmed his heart a little, and if Yokozawa was lurking around as he usually was, Kisa felt a little protection being with someone else rather than alone.

So they had breakfast together, and Shiori didn't once badger him about the things they usually argued about, like Kisa's tendency to sleep with random men or the fact that they hardly saw each other anymore. It was a pleasant morning.

And then they got to the gallery and Kisa felt the need to sink into the wall.

"What's the matter with you?" Shiori asked. She'd been walking along a little slowly since she had Shizuko's hand, but she had turned and tugged Shizuko to a stop when she noticed her brother wasn't there beside her anymore. "Come on. If you're worried about the crowds it will only get busier later in the day."

"No, that's not it," Kisa said, his eyes narrowed and staring off to the side. He'd been like that ever since remembering Yukina's statement the previous night about working for the gallery. It wasn't just a random thought, though; it had been because Yukina was right there in front of one of the paintings, talking about it to a group of girls that couldn't have been older than high school. He practically sparkled as he talked, and the girls looked enraptured as he talked about the artist and who the person in the painting was.

Shiori looked confused, until she noticed Kisa give a brief glance to Yukina before turning away. She looked for herself, and her face lit up. "Ah, that guy is hot! Why is it that all the good-looking people seem to come out after you're married?" She sighed in a disappointed way before taking a hold of Shizuko's arm again. The girl had attempted to wander off while her mother was lamenting. "Shi-chan, stay with me and Uncle Shouta, okay?"

Shizuko didn't look happy about that, and she kept insistently tugging on her mother's hand. Finally Shiori just let her go so she could walk on her own. She could keep an eye on her from there, after all. Shizuko went immediately for Yukina, who smiled even wider when he noticed her. The girls all squealed over how cute she was. Yukina picked her up and glanced around. Shiori waved and called out that it was okay before turning to Kisa.

"Well? Aren't you going over with me?" she asked.

"I'd rather not," Kisa said, that uncomfortable look still on his face.

"Well why the hell not?" Shiori asked, not even bothering to censor her language since Shizuko was over with Yukina and the girls, looking happy as Yukina asked her various questions about herself.

"You really want to know?" Kisa asked. He didn't actually intend to tell his sister, but if it would get her to leave him alone, he might have been willing.

"Yes."

"That was the guy I was with last night. Right before you called." Kisa folded his arms and hunched his shoulders.

There was a long silence, punctuated by the people walking around them and Shizuko's enthusiastic, if not entirely coherent, answers to Yukina's questions. At one point Yukina looked over at them again, probably because Shizuko was saying how she was out with "Momma and Shouta" and he felt the need to get a good look at them. After a bit, it seemed like Shiori either hadn't heard him, though she hadn't heard him right, or wasn't going to push the issue.

"That guy," Shiori finally said, pointing at Yukina now that he wasn't looking at them anymore.

"Yeah."

"How?"

Kisa shrugged. "He went into the café a few times, we talked, he ended up at my apartment. Not much to it." He, of course, left out the real details, such as the art gallery trip and finding out how much Yukina admired his painting. Those details weren't really important, anyway. He did, however, add, "He's probably the first guy to cook me dinner, though." He'd been staring at the floor, but he looked up when Shiori started giggling. "What?"

"He cooked you dinner?" she asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Kisa asked, indignation clear in his voice. When he saw how amused Shiori was by all of this, he defended himself with, "It's not like we'll see each other again. If you hadn't dragged me here today I probably would've gone my whole life without seeing him after last night."

"Kisa-san!"

Kisa jumped in surprise when he realized that Yukina had extracted himself from the group of girls and had walked up to them, Shizuko still in his arms.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Yukina said, gently handing Shizuko back to Shiori. Instead of staying in her mother's arms, though, Shizuko wiggled down to the ground and started looking impatient that the adults were just standing around when there was clearly a lot to do.

"Yeah, well, you don't know a lot about me," Kisa said, but Yukina didn't seem fazed. When Shiori elbowed him, Kisa cleared his throat and said, "This is my younger sister, Kimura Shiori and her daughter Shizuko. Shiori, this is Yukina Kou."

"It's good to meet you," Yukina said, bowing. Before more could happen, though, he was called away, and he smiled his apology and went back to his job.

"So about never seeing him again," Shiori said, taking a hold of her daughter's hand again.

"Like I said," Kisa said, glancing to where Yukina had escaped to. He was talking to the gallery owner, Kirishima Zen. Kisa ducked his head before either noticed he was looking their way. "Just a one-time thing."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Emerald Café had a deal with a nearby bakery for getting their bread. The café did serve sandwiches, but because the mostly specialized in cake and other confections, it was easier to just buy the bread from somewhere instead of making it themselves and adding to the burden of the cooks. Instead of just getting it from a store, though, Takano-san believed it should be just as high-quality as the rest of their food. That was how they got a business deal with Sapphire Bakery.

Sapphire Bakery was an interesting place, even Takano-san would admit it. Where Emerald Café was staffed almost completely by men, Sapphire's staff consisted of nothing but women. Someone who was opening would deliver the bread order every day, and Ritsu went in once or twice a month to arrange the order and pay for it, but that wasn't the only time they were seen. Staff from Sapphire Bakery tended to lurk around Emerald Café. It wasn't like they were a nuisance, since they always ordered something. But when, for instance, Ritsu and Takano-san were still going through the complications of 'will-they-won't-they' they could be seen in groups when the two shared a shift, almost like they were hoping something would happen.

One day, Kisa had sat down with some of them and actually asked why they spent so much time there. Turned out that the staff shared more interests than just a love of baking: they were all BL fans, and Emerald Café was pretty much a treasure trove for them. Kisa had asked why they never bothered him, and one had answered that Takano-san and 'Onodera-kun' dancing around each other like they were was more interesting than Kisa being a manslut, even if he was an adorable manslut.

Two women from Sapphire Bakery showed up the next evening when Kisa had about thirty minutes left in his shift. It was surprisingly slow considering it was dinnertime, and so after Mino took their order, Kisa went over to talk to them.

"Ah, this place isn't nearly as fun since Takano-san and Onodera-kun got together," one woman complained. She'd been doing that for the past two years, actually, and it slightly confused Kisa why they still lurked around the café if they weren't getting the kind of show they wanted anymore. "There are Hatori-san and Yoshino-san but Yoshino-san is so thick, I swear." Then she looked up and realized that Kisa was standing by their table, and she smiled. "Kisa-san! How are you today?"

"Same as always," Kisa said with a smile. One of the women offered to pull up a chair so he could sit with them, but he declined. "No men for me tonight though, I think."

"Oh my god," the first woman said, turning to her companion. "I think the world might be ending. Or are you terminally ill, Kisa-san?"

"Neither, just tired." Kisa sighed. "If I didn't think Takano-san would chain me to the store I'd get a job somewhere that offers more stable hours."

"You could always just ask Onodera-kun to make your schedule more consistent," the second woman pointed out.

"That poor guy goes through enough nagging about the schedule," Kisa said with a laugh. It seemed like Mino was the only person who had never, at some point in his career at Emerald Café, nagged Ritsu about rearranging his or her shifts to better accommodate their social life. Kisa had done it himself in the past, he would admit, but he had started taking pity on him. "Besides, this is really the best I can do."

"Aw, I'm sure that's not true, Kisa-san," the first woman said, patting him on the shoulder. "Besides, this place is pretty popular, so the pay can't be that bad."

Well it certainly helped that when he went out with a guy, the guy almost always paid for the room in the love hotel. It was one less expense to destroy his wallet with, that was true.

Mino approached with their coffee and cakes, so Kisa decided he should probably get back to the counter and wait to see if anyone else would come in that he'd have to serve. Just as he was turning around, though, Yukina Kou came through the door.

"Shit," he muttered. Apparently it was loud enough for the Sapphire women to hear, because they both looked up from their cakes and their eyes went wide at the same time.

"Ooh, I know him, he works at Kirishima-san's gallery," the second one said, her eyes lighting up. "I didn't know he came in here."

Kisa ducked his head and went to hide in the kitchen. Mino seemed to get the idea, because even though it was one of Kisa's assigned tables, he went and took Yukina's order himself.

Since Ichinose wasn't required to make any of her elaborate treats right then, she was simply sitting on a stool by the stove, texting away on her phone. It was probably to An-chan. An-chan was Ritsu's childhood friend and was supposed to be his fiancé, as arranged by his family. The notion hadn't lasted long after Ritsu started working for Emerald Café, though, and An-chan had been upset but accepted it after Ichinose took it upon herself to just let her sit there and cry in the kitchen one day. They'd been close ever since, to the point where everyone wondered why Chiaki got defensive of Hatori when Ichinose was around.

Then again, even Ichinose didn't seem to understand the implications of the relationship that she had fostered with An-chan over the years.

When Kisa pushed through the swinging door, she looked up and snapped her phone shut. She had a habit of giving her full attention to Kisa when he went into the kitchen, mostly because he did it so rarely that she knew something was up when he did.

"Another Evil Ex?" she asked with a slight smirk.

Kisa glanced through the small, circular window on the kitchen door to see Mino wasn't even trying to chase him away. Yukina was an actual customer at the café and was not, apparently, asking for Kisa. Kisa finally sighed and turned away, leaning against the doorframe. "No, it's just me being a coward, I think. I'm not used to seeing a guy I tried to sleep with so much."

"Tried to?" Ichinose asked, arching an eyebrow. "In all the years I've known you, I never knew Kisa Shouta as someone to give up on a guy he wanted."

"It's complicated," Kisa said. He stepped out of the doorway just in time for Mino to go in and hand off the order. The two looked at each other for a second, almost like they were exchanging some kind of silent message. Mino was asking Kisa if he should kick him out like usual, and Kisa was telling him that it was fine. Seeing this, Mino just smiled, gave Chiaki (who had been lurking in the corner of the kitchen, trying to make himself invisible) the order and went back on his way.

Since Chiaki was taking care of the order, Ichinose got down from her stool and went to look through the window. Her eyes scanned the café once before she said, "Which one is he?"

"The only one out there," Kisa muttered. He watched Ichinose scan the restaurant again then look confused, so he added, "Tall, light brown hair, incredibly sparkly aura."

"Oh! Him?" Ichinose's eyes finally landed on Yukina, sitting there at his table and waiting for the Emerald Tea he had ordered. When Kisa nodded, Ichinose considered him carefully. "He looks like a guy out of a shojo manga. Are you sure he's capable of one-night stands?"

"Well I did say 'tried,'" Kisa muttered, looking only slightly put-off.

"Order-up," Chiaki called. It had been fast enough, since all he had to do was get a cup of hot water and the tea leaves. Kisa and Chiaki glanced around for Mino, but the man was nowhere to be found. "Kisa-san? Could you take this out?"

Ichinose was snickering as Kisa just snatched the cup from Chiaki and brought it out, not even bothering to bring a tray. He was too pissed-off, for one, and for two, it was only one cup. He could carry that much on his own.

"Kisa-san!" Yukina said with a smile once he saw that Kisa was the one bringing his tea out instead of Mino. "I thought maybe you weren't working right now, since I didn't see you."

"Just out back in the kitchen," Kisa said with a smile. "This is technically my table, though, and I felt bad making Mino-san do my work." Lies, lies, lies, but Yukina didn't need to know that. "Enjoy!"

"Kisa-san."

Kisa found himself stopping when Yukina called his name. Yukina had the cup of tea in both hands, but his eyes were on Kisa, a rather serious look on his face that made Kisa want to squirm.

"If you're getting out of work soon, would you like to take a walk with me?"

Kisa paused at that. This was exactly the kind of situation he had been afraid would happen. He briefly considered just ignoring him and possibly sending Mino back out, but something prevented him. He folded his arms and said, "I guess so. I have less than an hour left, so if you don't mind waiting…" When he actually looked at Yukina, the guy had lit up like Kisa had just told him he'd won the lottery.

Ichinose looked amused when Kisa went back to the counter. She was sticking her head out the kitchen door and had, it seemed, seen everything.

"What?" Kisa asked, looking at her warily. Ichinose, for her part, just shook her head and went back into the kitchen.

xxx

Yukina really did want to go for a walk, it turned out. Given that it was the middle of July, it was hot out, and they had ended up stopping at an ice cream stand. They spent most of the time exchanging small talk, just little things about the weather (it was hot), how work was (nothing unusual) and other things that Kisa tended to avoid because he just found them asinine.

The ice cream stand they stopped at was near a park, and they decided to stop there and eat.

"Can I ask you something?" Kisa asked once they sat down together on a bench. He'd been absentmindedly licking at his ice cream, only noting in passing that Yukina had his eyes on him the entire time. Kisa would admit himself that he had some rather… interesting habits when it came to eating ice cream, or ice pops, or even occasionally hot dogs. Yukina realized that Kisa was talking to him, though, and so he nodded. "Why are you so nice?"

"What do you mean, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, proceeding to eat his own ice cream and pointedly not watching Kisa's tongue.

"I mean, I haven't known you for long but I always see you acting like you're everyone's best friend. You're probably the self-sacrificing type, too."

"I suppose," Yukina said, clasping his ice cream cone with both hands and just holding it there in his lap, staring down at the chocolate soft-serve. "But is that really such a bad thing?"

"Eh, take it from me," Kisa said, putting aside his cone since he'd licked the ice cream from the top and it wasn't in danger of falling. "Sometimes if you really want something you have to take it instead of just waiting for it to present itself to you, or worrying if it would be inconvenient for someone else." He noticed Yukina was gazing at him again, so he shifted nervously and said, "So was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"

Before Kisa could realize what was happening, Yukina leaned down and kissed him. It was a short kiss, but when Yukina went to pull away, Kisa pulled him back down.

What was left of Kisa's ice cream pretty much went ignored.

xxx

They ended up going to Yukina's apartment, though Kisa didn't pay attention to it once they were in the door. They made it past the genkan, but they were kissing the entire way. At one point, Yukina made an idle comment about not having condoms, and Kisa broke the kiss long enough to reach into his bag, which was still over his shoulder, and produce a condom and lube.

"Are you always this prepared?" Yukina asked as he put them beside the bed.

"Yep."

Kisa expected to just fall onto the bed, but Yukina prevented him from doing so. He had his arms firmly around Kisa's waist and then he actually lifted Kisa up and set him on the bed himself. Kisa was somewhat surprised, but his mind was soon elsewhere as Yukina pushed his shirt up.

"Kisa-san," Yukina breathed as he stared at Kisa's flat belly. "You have an amazing body." Kisa blushed and looked away as Yukina leaned down and licked a long line from his collarbone down to his navel, where he swirled his tongue around before leaning back.

Kisa sat up and brought Yukina into a kiss. He had no idea what compelled him to do so, but he almost literally melted into Yukina's arms as his tongue invaded his mouth. He wrapped his legs around Yukina's waist and shamelessly rubbed their clothed erections against each other, drawing a moan out of Yukina and a desperate, "Can we do more, Kisa-san?"

"I didn't get those out for the fun of it," Kisa said, glancing at the condom and lube he dropped on the nightstand.

They quickly stripped and Kisa put some lube on his fingers so he could prepare himself rather than making Yukina do it. By the time he was ready, Yukina had slipped the condom on and looked almost impatient to just get on with it.

Kisa smirked and rolled over so he was on his knees, his head laid on the pillow and his arms wrapped around his head. When Yukina didn't immediately go for it, he turned his head and said, "Well?"

"Are you sure it won't hurt you, Kisa-san?" Yukina sounded concerned as he said that, and he missed Kisa putting his face back in the pillow and rolling his eyes. He seemed to get it, though, because he placed his hands on Kisa's hips and carefully entered him.

Yukina, apparently, did not last long once they got down to business. Kisa had to tell him to thrust harder because the younger man had started slowing down after about a minute, moaning softly. Yukina nodded, though, and he reached and took Kisa's cock so he could start pumping it and help him along the way. When they did finally orgasm, Kisa slightly after Yukina, Yukina just sighed and pulled out, then pulled Kisa into his arms.

Kisa's entire body was relaxed, and he was a little drowsy. However, he could still feel the results of his orgasm, if just barely. It had not been the best session of spontaneous, two-minute sex he'd ever had, but sitting there on Yukina's lap, leaning against his warm body, was nice. Not that Kisa would ever use that as an excuse for going back to him when he swore he wouldn't.

Yukina had suggested that they shower together, but Kisa had declined. It didn't seem the man had the energy to argue the point, so he just took out some new clothes and went by himself. Once Kisa could hear the water running, he quickly put on his own clothes, grabbed his bag, and hightailed it for the genkan. As he put on his shoes and opened the door, he swore to himself that _this_ was the last time.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was payday at the café and Kisa decided, since he had the next day off, that he wanted to drink. He said it to the general area, since it was close to closing time and he didn't have to worry about customers thinking he wasn't 'cute' for it.

Of course, Yukina was still there, sipping away at his third cup of Emerald Tea and drawing. He was waiting for Kisa, quite obviously, and Kisa was starting to resent that Mino hadn't bounced him by then.

"I would've thought you had given up drinking by now," Takano-san said from the register. Ritsu wasn't working closing that day so it was his job to count and close up. "You do some pretty embarrassing stuff when you've got alcohol in you."

Kisa blushed and ducked his head, remembering the first time he and his boss had gone drinking together, before Ritsu had shown up. They'd both been drunk, so it wasn't like that particularly embarrassing (at least in retrospect) night had been completely his fault. It still wasn't something either man was willing to tell Ritsu if they could help it.

"Then again," Takano-san said, his eyes drifting over to Yukina. "You could always have your boyfriend look out for you."

Kisa had been drinking a cup of Emerald Tea himself, and at that point, he actually did a spit-take. He wiped his mouth and looked around the café like he had no idea what Takano-san was talking about. When Takano-san simply pointed to Yukina, Kisa narrowed his eyes and held the cup of tea up to his lips again. "He's not my boyfriend, and I wouldn't trust him to 'look out for me' if I went drinking."

"Oh?" Takano-san arched an eyebrow like this was news to him, and very interesting news at that. "He looks pretty reliable. Probably wouldn't even take advantage of you if you were drunk."

Kisa didn't necessarily know Yukina enough to judge that particular aspect of his character, but that suddenly gave him an idea. He had a feeling he'd be leaving with Yukina whether he wanted to or not, so why not use it to his advantage?

Well, there was the fact that he'd sworn the last time would really be the last time, but he hadn't gotten any propositions over the day and the type of man he usually picked up at bars looked rather unappealing in the face of Yukina Kou, sparkly aura extraordinaire. And maybe the slight tinge of awkward from last time wouldn't be there when Kisa's inhibitions were thrown out the window.

That was how, when Takano-san told Kisa to go home because he, Mino and Mutou would close, Kisa ended up asking Yukina over to his apartment for a drink. Yukina readily accepted, not even bringing up what Takano-san had said about Kisa doing embarrassing things when he was drunk even though it was extremely likely that he had heard the conversation.

Once they were in Kisa's apartment, it only took about two hours for him to drink enough to make it obvious why Takano-san had been 'concerned' about him. Yukina, on the other hand, was still on his first beer and gazing amazedly at the cans around him.

"I did! I swore last time was the last time I'd sleep with you," Kisa said, clutching his beer can in one hand but, despite his words, looking in incredibly high spirits. "But you're always there! I guess my sister was right when she said I'd sleep with any man who didn't fight back."

"She couldn't have meant that, Kisa-san," Yukina said, vaguely noting that Kisa was getting closer to him, to the point where their hips were pressed together. He quickly put his half-empty beer on the floor as Kisa climbed onto his lap, putting his legs on either side of his hips. He blinked in confusion but didn't protest when Kisa started kissing him.

Then Kisa pulled back and said, "Nah, I've slept with a _lot_ of guys." He was smiling though, so it was clear that he at least had a sense of humor about it. "It's kind of my thing." Then he reached down and fingered the zipper on Yukina's pants. "This has to be the only time I've gone back to a guy for a third round, though."

"Kisa-san…" Yukina said, blinking. "Kisa-san, I don't think I'd feel comfortable sleeping with you when you're drunk."

Kisa frowned, still working the pants zipper. His coordination wasn't quite there, though. "You don't even have to do anything. I'll top tonight." He suddenly stopped moving, though, and when he leaned into Yukina, the younger man looked down and realized that Kisa had fallen asleep.

Yukina couldn't help but smile as he carefully took Kisa in his arms and brought him in to the bedroom. There he tucked him in, deciding that he would be fine in his current clothes since he had changed into them from his uniform so they were fresh, and then glanced around the room. He spotted a teddy bear on the floor, probably fallen from the shelf, and he couldn't help but smile.

"You really are cute, Kisa-san," he said. He knew that the bear probably didn't normally take up residence on the bed, but he picked it up and put it there anyway, smiling even wider when Kisa reached out in his sleep and grabbed it.

Seeing that Kisa was quite content with that, Yukina went back into the living room and looked around. They'd gotten takeout for dinner since Kisa had admitted that he hadn't gone grocery shopping in a while, so not only were the beer cans spread out around the floor, but so were the takeout boxes. Yukina had been ready to just lay on the couch, keeping an ear out for Kisa until he fell asleep himself, but he found himself picking up the beer cans and tossing them in the recycling bin, then throwing away the takeout containers and using the broom he found after some searching to sweep up some spilled rice.

Satisfied with his work, Yukina finally laid down on the couch. He'd almost expected Kisa to come stumbling out of his room, demanding to know how he got there, but when Yukina checked on him after a bit, he was sleeping like a baby, the teddy bear clutched to his chest like he thought someone was going to steal it from him. Yukina couldn't help but go in and give him a kiss on the forehead before saying, "Goodnight, Kisa-san."

xxx

Sometimes Kisa's plans didn't go exactly as he wanted them to. For instance, when he said that the night in Yukina's apartment would be their last time together, he'd ended up giving in and accepting that he was probably going to sleep with the guy again. However, when he finally accepted that fate, he woke up the next morning, laying in his bed, alone and fully-clothed, with a headache only slightly better than he usually had after a night of drinking.

He scowled, realizing that Takano-san had been right: Yukina wasn't the kind of guy to take advantage of a drunk person. Then Kisa saw that he had the teddy bear Shizuko had left the last time she was over in his arms, and he sighed and put it aside. Clearly the previous night hadn't been successful in any possible meaning of the word.

Kisa dragged himself out of bed and went into the main part of his apartment, expecting to be alone and to have coffee for breakfast, which was why he was shocked to see Yukina standing there in the kitchen. There was a bag from the nearby convenience store sitting on the kitchen table, so he'd clearly gone out of his way.

"Yukina…" Kisa said with a sigh, ready to tell him that he didn't need to stay, let alone buy him groceries and make him breakfast. Yukina lit up when he saw Kisa, and he smiled brightly at him from the stove. So, instead of Kisa saying any of that, he said, "You like to cook, don't you?"

"Well." The smile never left Yukina's face. "I had a girlfriend in college who was really bad at it. I'm talking she's poisoned herself making ramen before bad. So, I learned for her."

Kisa frowned at that and sat at the dining table. There was nothing wrong with Yukina talking about past girlfriends, especially considering he and Kisa weren't together. Yukina wasn't Kisa's to get jealous over. Still, he kept his voice under control and said, "Why'd you two break up?"

"We dated for a bit after college, when I got my job at the art gallery," Yukina explained, pouring piles of rice onto two plates. "She didn't like all the attention I'd get there, especially from those teenage girls who come in a lot. She'd constantly ask me, 'Are you comparing me to them?' even though I'd tell her I wasn't. Eventually she broke up with me, telling me that if I liked those girls so much maybe I should date one of them." He didn't sound the least bit upset about it, though, and Kisa was a bit baffled. He himself had never regretted letting a guy go, but Yukina seemed more like the 'in it for the long haul' type of guy.

"Didn't it hurt you?" Kisa asked before he stopped himself.

"At the time," Yukina confirmed, placing a rice and vegetable plate in front of Kisa, along with a pair of chopsticks. "But clearly she wasn't the one if she didn't have confidence that I loved her enough to not cheat on her with those girls. Besides." And Yukina sat down at that. "They're a bit too young for me. I like my partner to be around my age."

"I'm the exception, huh?" Kisa asked, humor laced with only a hint of bitterness in it.

Yukina blinked a few times, not seeming to realize what Kisa was saying. Then the light bulb went on and he said, "Oh! Yes, I suppose you are. You don't seem like you're in your thirties though, Kisa-san."

"Thanks." Kisa started digging in to his food to prevent that particular conversation from continuing. Then he looked up. He was pretty sure he knew the answer to his question, but he just had to ask it, mostly for his peace of mind. "Did we do anything last night?"

"Anything?" Yukina asked. When Kisa gave him a meaningful look, Yukina seemed to get it. "Oh! No. You fell asleep and I put you to bed, cleaned up, all that. So no. As I said last night, I wouldn't feel comfortable having sex with you while you're drunk."

Kisa sighed and leaned back in his seat, putting a steamed carrot in his mouth. He swallowed it before saying, "You really are too nice for your own good."

"It's a bad thing that I didn't want to take advantage of you like that?" Yukina asked, clearly sounding confused.

Kisa shook his head. "No, it's just, that wouldn't have been the first time I'd had sex and didn't remember it the morning after."

Yukina smiled at that. "It would defeat the point if neither of us remembered it, don't you think?"

"I guess." Kisa sighed and went back to his breakfast. Yukina had even made tea, though since Kisa had gotten used to the Emerald Tea over the last couple weeks since that first cup Ichinose gave him, it didn't taste nearly as strong as he would've liked. He glanced around, but it didn't seem like he had sugar. Leave it to Kisa to not even have the essentials.

"What's the matter, Kisa-san?"

"Just thinking how empty my cupboards are," Kisa said, ducking his head and going back to eating. Then he realized something. "Don't you have work today?"

"It's my day off," Yukina said with a smile. "I do get them every so often, though I'm sure Kirishima-san would keep me there every day if he could. He has a lot of praise for me." He ate a few mouthfuls of rice before saying, "Would you like to go grocery shopping? Since you don't have anything, I'm sure you'd need to get a lot. I can help carry."

Kisa wasn't sure what to do, really. Then again, he was already sitting there at his table, eating a breakfast that Yukina had made, so it wasn't like going grocery shopping would hurt. It wouldn't help, certainly, when Kisa meant to get rid of the guy as quickly as possible. But actually having something to eat at home, even if it was instant meals, sounded nice.

So, Kisa found himself saying, "Sure," before going back to eating.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Is there anything you particularly like, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked as they browsed the shelves of the supermarket a couple hours later. They'd been getting more than one odd stare from people around them, but Kisa just glared at them and they sunk back without a word. Yukina was probably used to that kind of treatment, though; he seemed to sparkle twenty-four-seven, no matter what he was doing. It made grocery shopping a rather daunting task, with how easily it distracted Kisa from choosing what he needed in his apartment and what he could afford to live without for the next couple weeks until he got his next paycheck. He needed to put aside money for other things, after all.

"Not really," Kisa said, his eyes scanning the shelves. "I guess just some stewing beef and rice. Maybe some broth. I can live off very little for a long time."

"I suppose that explains why you're so skinny," Yukina said, but he was smiling as he said it so he was quite obviously not serious. Or, mostly not serious. Despite what Yukina said he did lead the way to the aisle where the rice was kept.

Once Kisa told Yukina that he really had no preference when it came to food, it seemed like Yukina was intentionally picking out the healthiest things he could, much to Kisa's annoyance. It wasn't like he was against eating well, but as Yukina picked out vegetable soups and brown instead of white rice, he felt vaguely like he was shopping with his mother instead of the guy he was sleeping with. He refused to think of Yukina as his boyfriend because he wasn't- despite the fact that the man had brought him out grocery shopping, they weren't dating. Kisa did not date.

"Do you really have to pick out food like I'm on some kind of diet?" Kisa muttered as Yukina added some fresh apples to the cart he was pushing. Kisa didn't even get to push his own cart, it seemed, and he was getting slightly pissed-off at that point.

"Well," Yukina said, gazing down at the things he had gotten so far. "Whenever I go into the café to see you, you're always eating cake and drinking coffee. You are skinny, Kisa-san, but you can't be all that healthy."

Kisa never really thought about it, but he really couldn't argue with Yukina. Even when he wasn't spending his day having cake for lunch, he usually had takeout, which was almost guaranteed to be full of MSG and other preservatives that probably wreaked havoc on his digestive tract.

"If you'd like, I can cook dinner for you later, Kisa-san," Yukina said absently as Kisa started putting snack crackers in the cart just to spite the other man. Yukina didn't seem to notice. "I thought maybe we could go out to lunch after we finish here."

"And what exactly did you have planned that would have us together all day?" Kisa asked, dumping rice cakes into the cart. They weren't exactly bad for him, but he could top them with whatever he wanted.

"I noticed you don't really have any blank sketchbooks left so I thought you might like to go to an art supply store," Yukina said casually.

It made sense to Kisa at first; he had run out of room in all the sketchbooks he owned about a week back, and he never really thought of just going out by himself and getting more. He'd managed to occupy himself with other things, like working and avoiding spending time with Yukina as much as possible. Which didn't, Kisa lamented as Yukina asked Kisa if he wanted to get milk, working all that well.

A thought suddenly occurred to him, though, and he pulled the cart to a stop himself as Yukina almost passed by the milk. Yukina seemed to take that as Kisa wanting milk, so he opened it up and said, "What kind do you want?"

"I don't want milk," Kisa said, a frown on his face. When Yukina looked confused, he added, "Why were you looking through my sketchbooks, anyway?"

Yukina started pushing the cart away from the milk refrigerator and towards the frozen foods. "I wasn't sure when you would be waking up this morning, so I didn't want to make breakfast too early and make you have to reheat your part. And they were just all lying around your apartment, so I thought I'd pick them up and put them out of the way. And I really admired your painting in the gallery so…" When he saw how mad Kisa looked, he hung his head. "I'm sorry, Kisa-san. I should've known that they were private."

"Whatever," Kisa said with a sigh. "Just forget about it. I would like to get a new sketchbook, though."

They walked in silence for a little while, neither trying to put anything new in the cart, when Yukina said, "I didn't know you did portraits as well, Kisa-san."

Kisa ducked his head. Most of the portraits he did were of the men he slept with- at least the ones he could remember well enough to sketch out. It was perhaps why his books filled up fast. When he had the time, he slept with a lot of men- sometimes more than one at once, though he'd never tell that to someone like Yukina. He realized that his habit of drawing them was probably pretty strange and displayed some kind of complex, but it provided him with a kind of closure.

He realized, as Yukina asked if Kisa had gotten everything he wanted and headed towards the checkout, that he hadn't actually done a picture of Yukina.

xxx

It was only when he and Yukina were doing the dishes together after a dinner of chicken fried rice that Kisa realized how incredibly domestic he felt. They'd gone to lunch and then an art store to get more sketchbooks, after which they'd gone to Yukina's apartment. There had been cleaning involved, since Yukina confessed that he didn't get that much time to do such things either. Dinner had involved swapping war stories about work. Kisa had been sure that Takano-san got Weirdest Boss of the Year award, but the stories Yukina told about Kirishima were pretty strange as well.

"He's a very nice man," Yukina admitted with a smile as Kisa dried the last plate and put it in the cupboard Yukina had pointed out at the start of their venture. "Just very… quirky. He does care about all of us, though."

"He's going out with Yokozawa-san, right?" Kisa asked, leaning against the counter now that his part was done so Yukina could proceed to drain the dishwater. "That's one guy I wouldn't want to cross."

"True." The smile never left Yukina's face. "He's very dedicated to his work, but I can tell he cares a lot about people who are close to him."

"That's I'd like to see," Kisa said with a laugh. He kept leaning against the counter even when Yukina finished cleaning up, and when Yukina turned to him, he tugged him forward into a kiss. He'd been waiting for the opportunity perhaps all day. He had considered pouncing Yukina that morning, but he'd still been suffering from his hangover-induced headache and it probably would've failed harder than the previous night's attempt apparently did. He managed to slip his tongue into Yukina's mouth and draw forth a few sighs before breaking the kiss, though he didn't let go of the front of Yukina's shirt.

It only took that one kiss for Yukina to realize what Kisa wanted, and he nodded towards his bedroom. Kisa arched an eyebrow and kept Yukina in place instead of letting him stay there. "Who says we have to go all the way there?" he asked. When Yukina looked confused, Kisa just rolled his eyes, switched them around so Yukina was leaning against the counter, and gave him a deep kiss before he got down on his knees. Instead of going right for Yukina's pants, though, he unzipped his own pants and pulled himself out.

"Kisa-san-" Yukina started, but his eyes went wide when Kisa started stroking himself. Kisa was letting the moans and groans flow freely, and he could tell even with Yukina's pants in the way that it was making him hard. After about a minute, which was uninterrupted because Yukina was, in fact, far too polite, Kisa finally reached up and undid his pants. He made quick work of getting them out of the way before going down on him.

Once Yukina's cock was in his mouth, Kisa reached one hand back down and started stroking himself. Just the sounds Yukina was making as Kisa worked, bobbing his head and swirling his tongue around in every way possible, probably could have gotten him off. Yukina seemed to take even more pleasure in seeing Kisa touch himself, though, to the point where he wasn't working long before Yukina said, "Kisa-san, I'm going to come," in a desperate voice.

To his credit, it was another full minute before he was releasing into Kisa's mouth, though that was mostly Kisa's doing. He knew how to torture a man within an inch of orgasm without letting him actually get there. It was one of his many talents, as he'd readily admit. The only thing he was ready to do after he swallowed Yukina's release, though, was finish himself off. What he didn't expect was for Yukina to sit down after he'd gathered enough of his wits about him for coherent thought and pull Kisa's hand away so he could stroke him.

"Ngh," Kisa said, flinching a little as Yukina's hand worked. He was a little better at it than the first time, and Kisa had to wonder if Yukina might have been practicing on himself. "Yukina, you don't have to do that."

"The point is for both of us to feel good, right?" Yukina asked, his voice a little breathy, and Kisa couldn't help but think he was still out of it from his orgasm. That was just about the last coherent thought he had, though, because he could feel his own finish coming.

He released into Yukina's hand, crying out the man's name and clinging around his back for dear life. His heart was still beating like mad when Yukina carefully extracted himself and went to wash his hands. All Kisa really had the energy to do was sit there on the floor, gazing at Yukina's backside as he stood there at the sink.

"Do you have work tomorrow, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked when he was done. He got back down on the floor and pulled Kisa into him, kissing the back of his neck.

Kisa nodded. "Yep, early morning shift. I get to be one of the openers." He did not sound happy about it in the least, mostly because he hadn't had an early shift since the day Yukina showed up in the café for the first time, so it had been about two weeks. He could've gone his entire life without having to get up that early again, but it was sadly not meant to be. He squirmed a little. He was uncomfortable with Yukina being so close. Not physically uncomfortable, because sitting on the man's lap was actually quite nice. Emotionally uncomfortable would probably be a better way of seeing it, he supposed as Yukina continue brushing his lips against various parts of his neck. "What about you?"

"I don't have to be into the gallery until ten," Yukina said absently, clearly putting more attention to Kisa's body than their conversation. He wrapped his arms around Kisa's waist and pulled him closer, putting even less distance between their bodies. "Would you like me to bring you home, Kisa-san?"

"What, you have a car?" Kisa asked, sounding mildly impressed.

"Mmhmm," Yukina said absently. "I don't use it much but it's nice to have."

Kisa thought about it for a little bit. It would essentially be inviting Yukina over, he knew, and yet after the entire day he'd spent with the man, he could definitely think of worse ways to spend the night. And maybe if Yukina was there with him, they could have some actual sex instead of just a blowjob and jerking off on the kitchen floor. So, Kisa nodded and said, "Yeah. Pack an overnight bag."

He couldn't see it, since Yukina was behind him, but Yukina smiled at that before giving his neck one last kiss. "Of course, Kisa-san."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Kisa scrunched his eyes once before opening them. The air conditioner was going, but he was warmer than he should've been with just the light covers he had pulled up to his chin. Once he had his wits about him, he realized he was in Yukina's arms. The man was cuddled right up to him, arms securely around his ribcage and chin on top of his head. The first thing that annoyed Kisa about this was that had to be the first time he had woken up like that.

The second was that they hadn't had sex the previous night.

Oh sure, Kisa had initiated it at least. They'd showered separately and changed into night clothes. Yukina had taken his shower last, and Kisa had pulled him into bed for sex. The furthest they'd gone, however, had been some extremely heated kisses that left them both flushed and dizzy. Kisa wasn't sure why they stopped, but they had, and for the first time in his life, Kisa slept with a man without _sleeping_ with him.

This wasn't exactly the best way to demonstrate that he was only in it for the sex. He wasn't doing much to convince himself, come to think of it, considering he'd never woken up so early in the morning feeling so utterly refreshed. He tried to scowl as he reached out and shut off his alarm, but it was forced and he eventually gave up.

"Kisa-san."

Kisa turned and was met with a tender kiss. He was surprised at first but he ended up giving in. Yukina stroked his hair as he returned the kiss, but then the younger man pulled back. Kisa was reasonably disappointed, until Yukina smiled and said, "Don't you have work?"

He did, in fact, but all Kisa could do was flop over and hold his pillow over his face like he thought that would solve that incessant "being a grown-up" thing he had going in his life. Yukina smiled amiably and got up, offering to make breakfast. "Nah," Kisa said, finally taking the pillow away from his face and watching Yukina go to pick up his bag. He only had pajama pants on, and they rode a bit low on his hips. "Besides, I have work in twenty minutes."

"I don't see how that's enough time to get ready…" Yukina glanced over at the clock and confirmed that it was four-forty. The café opened at five, and since Kisa had an opening shift but wasn't actually opening the store, that's when he needed to get in. "Is this normally how your mornings are, Kisa-san?"

"No, Ricchan isn't always so cruel as to schedule me this early." Kisa yawned into his hand as he considered whether he wanted to put on street clothes and change at the café or just go in his uniform. It would probably be easier to just go in his uniform, and it was early enough so that he wouldn't get looks as he walked down the street. Emerald Café was about a ten minute walk from his apartment on a good day, and having people stop and glance at him was one of the reasons he usually left in street clothes.

"At least have some cereal, Kisa-san," Yukina said. Kisa turned to see he had stripped off his pajama pants and was putting on a shirt. Kisa looked slightly alarmed, but Yukina didn't seem to notice. "I can bring you to work so you won't be late."

Yukina's car was, Kisa had to admit, rather nice. Kisa didn't know much about cars, though, so anything that wasn't walking or public transportation pretty much amazed him at that point. So Kisa agreed, and he had a bowl of cereal before Yukina drove him over to the café.

When Yukina found a place to park, Kisa glanced into the café. Through the glass walls he could see some of the women from Sapphire Bakery. They must've decided to stop for a chat after delivering the day's bread. They were sitting at their usual table, leaning out a bit so they could look at Ritsu over at the register. One of them glanced out, though, when Kisa closed his door with an audible, if unintentional, slam. She then tapped her coworker on the shoulder and pointed.

Kisa glanced behind him, since they were looking over his shoulder, and noticed that Yukina was getting out of the car. "Aren't you going back to your place to actually get some sleep?"

"I slept very well last night, Kisa-san," Yukina said with a smile. "I thought I'd get some tea, since I have time. You don't mind, do you?"

As if Kisa had a say in whether Yukina went into the café or not. If Takano-san knew that Kisa had told Yukina to go away, his pay would probably get docked. So he just nodded, grumbling and feeling just a little itchy in his uniform. It may, of course, have just been because Yukina had squeezed his shoulder on the way past him in a way that made the Sapphire Bakery women stare at them suspiciously.

"Good morning!" Kisa called.

"Good morning." The only one present at the time was Ritsu, though Kisa supposed that Takano-san was in the back doing something or other. Chiaki dared a look out of the kitchen before he was dragged back in by an arm that looked like Ichinose's. When Ritsu noticed that Yukina was there as well, though, he straightened up and said, "Welcome to Emerald Café!"

"It's alright, Ricchan, I know what he wants so I'll go get it myself," Kisa said, his mouth going large in a yawn. He vaguely noted what table Yukina sat down at before going into the kitchen to get some Emerald Tea.

Yukina was used to women staring at him, though he couldn't help but notice the Sapphire Bakery women as they openly gawked at him from their own table. He didn't have his sketchbook or anything like that to distract him, so finally he caught their eyes and said, "Yes? Was there something you needed?"

"Why did you come in with Kisa-san?" the first woman asked.

"Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen him come in with anyone," the second said, looking just as interested but slightly less fangirl-ish than her coworker.

Yukina smiled and glanced over to the kitchen, where Kisa was just coming through the door with his tea. He stopped to talk to Ritsu, though, so Yukina answered with, "Um, I stayed with Kisa-san last night, so since I was there, I offered to drive him here. He has a bad habit of not giving himself enough time to get ready for work so…"

"You stayed with Kisa-san."

"Yes?"

"And he didn't kick you out?"

"Why would he?" Yukina looked surprised at the question. That had been the second time he was over at Kisa's place, and he hadn't been "kicked out" either time. The first might have counted because Kisa was the one to point out that it was getting late, but he hadn't actually told Yukina to go home.

"He tends to do that to guys he sleeps with. He's kind of a love 'em and leave 'em guy, bless his heart." The woman smiled over her coffee, which was so strong that Yukina could smell it from his own table.

"We didn't… sleep together," Yukina said. The women didn't look like they that believed that for a second, but fortunately, Kisa showed up with Yukina's tea. "Thank you, Kisa-san."

"No problem." Kisa was already in work mode, looking bright and sparkly. "By the way, when are you getting off work today?"

" I work until close, so a little after seven," Yukina said, taking a whiff of his tea. If he hadn't already been awake and aware, that certainly would have done it. "Did you want to go somewhere after that, Kisa-san."

Kisa was about to answer when there came giggling from over at the Sapphire table. He glanced at them and saw they'd been watching the exchange with rapt attention. He narrowed his eyes and, still looking at the women, he said, "I'll call you." Then he brightened as Takano-san came out of the back room and looked right at him. "Enjoy!"

xxx

Kisa's shift ended at two, and he'd gotten a text from Yukina in that time saying he was taking his lunch at that time. It wasn't like Kisa was specifically waiting for Yukina to show up or anything, but he'd packed street clothes to change into and rather than going home, he kind of just waited because he'd told Yukina that was when his shift ended and had gotten a reply that they could have lunch together at the café.

Another person Kisa recognized came into the café just as he was leaving the bathroom after changing. It was one of his friends, though only she would probably call it a friendship anymore. They talked from time to time, but they'd been in some mutual classes in college and Kisa had realized over the years that that was all they really had in common. Still, she did stop into the café and even call him sometimes, and it was nice to be in contact with people who weren't completely insane.

"Shouta!" the woman, Aika, said when she noticed him. "Aw, you're done working for today?"

"I've been here since five AM. I was done working at five-oh-one," Kisa muttered, rubbing at one eye like he was sleepy. It was mostly just for show, though. He was physically tired, but he'd still gotten a pretty good night's sleep. "So no, I will not be at your beck and call today. Feel free to bother Ricchan."

Ritsu jumped to attention when he heard his name, but Aika just waved him off and sat at the bar. "Did I tell you I'm getting married?"

"To that Kichida guy you've been dating?"

"Yep, Atsushi!" She grinned just at the thought, and for a minute, it looked like she was off in her own little world. But then she turned to Kisa and said, "We'll be expecting a present of course."

"Of course." Kisa rolled his eyes. Then he noticed that Aika's gaze was lingering on him, so he shifted a little, uncomfortable, and said, "What?"

"Just wondering when it will be your turn," she said. "You're thirty-four, Shouta. Don't you think it's about time you got a real job and started a family?"

"This is a real job." Kisa waved a hand around, indicating the entire café. "I'd like to see _you_ work eight and nine hour days in this place."

"Yeah but…" Aika stopped, seeming to consider her words. "Don't you ever get lonely? With your inconsistent schedule, it must not leave a lot of time to be looking."

"Believe me, it leaves plenty of time." Kisa stretched his back a little and leaned against the bar. It was ten past two, and Yukina was supposed to show up soon. He was just kind of hoping Aika got bored with telling him exactly why what he was doing with his life was wrong and wander out of the café before he showed up.

"Somehow I doubt the type of woman you'd pick up at a bar on your day off are marriage material." That was right too, of course; Aika didn't actually know Kisa was gay. That would probably lead to a hilarious incident eventually.

Or right then, as it turned out, because Yukina chose that time to come in, pushing the front door open and calling, "Kisa-san!" when he saw him. He was sparkling as usual. Kisa had gotten used to it in the short time he had known the man, but Aika squinted like she was looking directly at the sun. "I'm sorry I'm late."

"Who the hell is that?" Aika asked, shielding her eyes. Kisa at least took consolation that he wasn't the only one who had problems dealing with Yukina's sparkly aura.

Kisa got what seemed like a brilliant idea in his head. It was one that definitely wouldn't backfire on him eventually, especially considering they weren't actually dating. "That's Yukina Kou, my boyfriend."

It seemed that Yukina had heard, because without missing a beat, a huge smile appeared on his face and he put an arm around Kisa's shoulders. "Hello!"

Aika looked only slightly confused. It was Ritsu who reacted the strongest to the proclamation. He'd been drinking a coffee as he tried to cope with the rest of his shift, and as soon as he heard the word boyfriend, he did a spit-take right onto the counter. Takano-san, who'd been there as well, gave Ritsu a look and told him to get a rag so he could clean it up.

As Ritsu followed orders, Aika said, "Ah, you're gay. That makes sense, I guess." Then she glanced over at Ritsu, who looked like he was having a lot of trouble deciding which wash rag he wanted to use. "What's his problem?"

Kisa sighed and removed Yukina's arm from around his shoulders now that Aika wasn't paying attention to them. "That's just Ricchan. He does things like that."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Kisa ended up practically kidnapping Yukina when he was done at the gallery and dragging him to his apartment. Yukina didn't seem to care that Kisa didn't want any foreplay. They tumbled into bed after undressing each other, with Kisa ending up on top.

"Kisa-san…" Yukina watched as Kisa reached into a bedside drawer. "I can prepare you."

"I'm not the one taking it this time." Kisa licked his lips and glanced at Yukina's surprised expression. Then he squeezed lube out onto his fingers and reached for Yukina's waiting entrance. "I'm guessing you've never done this before."

"No," Yukina said in a breathy voice. His eyes fell closed as Kisa eased on finger in and searched for that sensitive spot. When he found it, Yukina cried out in surprise but didn't look displeased. Kisa continued to work, loosening him up and even adding a second finger when he thought it would be okay. "Kisa-san, I'm going to…"

"Don't you dare," Kisa said, and he pulled his fingers back. Then he put lube and a condom on himself and carefully entered Yukina.

They were both wincing, Yukina because it was a new experience for him and it felt uncomfortable and a little painful, and Kisa because it had been so long since he'd topped a man. He was almost always on bottom simply because he liked it that way, but he felt that if he didn't take initiative with Yukina at least once, they weren't going to get much farther. Kisa was getting tired of the nights where they didn't do a thing, or just getting a handjob before they went on with being domestic like they were actually a couple.

Kisa didn't do domestic, he didn't do foreplay with nothing afterwards, and he definitely didn't do relationships. He did, however, fuck men within an inch of their lives, and he relished Yukina's cries as he came onto his and Kisa's stomachs, looking utterly satisfied. Kisa kept moving in him until he completed as well, at which point he let out a strangled cry in his attempts to not be too vocal for Yukina.

He had his eyes closed, and when he opened them, he realized that Yukina had pulled away so they were no longer connected. He was just a bit disconcerted by this, until Yukina leaned in and kissed him gently. "You know, Kisa-san," Yukina said as he pulled away from the kiss and pressed their foreheads together. "If you wanted to have sex, you could've just asked."

"Stupid, who _asks_ for sex?" Kisa said, pushing Yukina away. He let out a rather violent sneeze, and when Yukina looked at him in concern, he just rolled his eyes and said he was hungry.

xxx

The next morning, Kisa did not want to get out of bed. He'd been hit hard with some kind of bug, complete with limbs that ached just from moving, a headache, congested head, and the distinct feeling that he was going to die. All he could do was send a text to Ritsu to let him know he couldn't make it to work that day. Technically Takano-san was the one who was supposed to be told those kinds of things, but Kisa didn't feel like he could deal with the man right then.

Without Kisa knowing, Yukina called into work as well. Luckily he'd gotten Kirishima, who was more than understanding when Yukina said he had to take care of someone he loved who was sick. He was rather understanding about those kinds of things, it seemed, because he had a daughter who he constantly worried over. Just the thought of something bad happening to her sent him into despair. And besides, it wasn't like Yukina was the only one there who could give tours, he just happened to be the most popular one.

"Kisa-san?" Yukina asked as he looked into the bedroom. Kisa had buried himself under the comforter, head and all, so it just looked there was one big lump on the bed. "Can I get you anything?"

"A gun to end my misery?" Kisa muttered, barely audible from under the covers. When it was obvious that Yukina wasn't going to give that a real response, he gave the more reasonable request of, "I think there's some medicine in the bathroom cabinet. Maybe it'll knock me out so I can sleep." He wouldn't tell Yukina, who hadn't seem to notice, but he'd hardly slept the previous night as his symptoms started to rear their ugly heads.

Yukina nodded, and just as he left to check the bathroom for medicine, Kisa's cell phone went off. Kisa snaked an arm out from under his covers and snatched his cell phone before pulling his arm back in. He mostly expected it to be Takano-san or someone else from the café, checking to see if Kisa really was sick or if he was just hung-over. He'd been known to claim sick on a hang-over before, not that he'd really done it lately.

When he checked the display, though, he got an even bigger sense of dread: it was Shiori. He knew that if he didn't answer it, though, she'd just keep calling, so he flipped it open and pressed the button. "Hello?"

"…Jesus, Shouta, I guess Onodera was right," was Shiori's greeting, and Kisa frowned. To himself, he didn't sound that bad, but he must've sounded like a wreck to others if Shiori could tell after just one word. "Do you need me to come over? Shizuko's with Mom and Dad today."

"No, I'm fine," Kisa said, sniffling a little and vaguely noting the bed dipping as Yukina sat down at the foot of it. "Besides, I already have someone here with me."

There was silence, in which Shiori was probably contemplating that, before she finally said, "You're just trying to get rid of me, aren't you?"

"Would I do that?" Kisa asked, only a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Or at least, what passed for sarcasm when he was so stuffed-up that it hindered his speech patterns. "Seriously, I'm fine."

"And I somehow doubt that," Shiori insisted. "Like I said, Shizuko is visiting Mom and Dad today, so I'm free, anyway. I'll be over soon." She hung up before Kisa could protest further.

Kisa sighed and shut his phone, considering whether death really would be a better alternative or not. He didn't need his younger sister around, doting on him and treating him like she would Shizuko if she had a cold. There was also the little fact that Yukina was still there, and that any attempts to kick him out would probably be met with resistance that he didn't have the energy to fight against right then. So he just sighed and said, "My sister will be here in about ten minutes." He didn't pull the covers off to see whether Yukina's reaction was positive or negative.

Just as he'd predicted, about ten minutes later, there came a knock at his apartment door. Kisa had taken the medicine Yukina had given him, and even though it hadn't had time to kick in yet, he was starting to feel a little loopy. It was probably mostly from being sick. His state was obvious to Yukina, so he went to answer the door instead.

"Good morning, Shiori-san," Yukina said with a smile and a bow.

Shiori had clearly been ready to chew her brother out for trying to get rid of her, but as soon as she saw Yukina, the words caught in her throat and all she could really do was make a noise that sounded like a cross between a squeak and one she might make if someone was strangling her. She tilted her head and looked around, like she thought maybe she had gone to the wrong place. She even leaned out and looked at the nameplate beside the door, but it said Kisa Shouta, so she was left looking even more confused.

"Um, hello," she said. Yukina moved out of the way, and she hesitantly stepped into the apartment and took her shoes off in the genkan. "Shouta told me he had someone with him already but I didn't believe him." She just watched as Yukina walked back over to the stove, where he'd been making soup for Kisa. "You're… Yukina-san, right? We met at Jump Art Gallery."

"Yes." Yukina smiled brightly and then turned the burner off. He turned just in time to catch Shiori's utterly confused expression, and because he thought it would help, he said, "Kisa-san started getting sick last night, so I stayed over to make sure he'd be okay."

Rather than putting an end to Shiori's confusion, however, it seemed to just elevate it. She put her bag on the couch and went over to Kisa's bedroom, figuring he'd be in there since she hadn't seen him out in the living room. Sure enough, Kisa was still huddled under the covers, muttering about wanting to die. "Shouta."

"Go away."

"Shouta!" She stomped over and pulled the covers right off of Kisa, which just caused her brother to curl up into the fetal position and hide his eyes in the pillow. The light had been on, and he felt like he'd go blind. "What the hell have you been up to the past few days?"

"What?" Kisa finally looked at his sister, and he managed to muster the energy to sit up in bed. "I've been working. Why is this relevant?"

"Because there is a very sparkly man in your kitchen making you soup."

"Yukina?" Kisa yawned, his eyes drooping. If he had his say, he would've just passed out right there, but he had a feeling that any attempts would be met with violence from Shiori. "He does that."

"Makes you soup?"

"I guess." Kisa waved his hand in a way that made it obvious his sister did not need to be there. When her weight didn't leave the bed, though, he lifted his head from the pillow again and gave her a dark glare. "I'm dosed up on decongestant and cough medicine, Shiori. There is no way I'll be held accountable for anything I do right now."

Shiori considered this just long enough to irritate Kisa, and then she finally seemed to decide that risking her life was not worth being around her deathly ill brother for another minute. But then she looked out the bedroom door, where there was a clear view of Yukina at the stove. She quietly went over to the door and closed it, and then she turned around and said, "Shouta, I'm going to ask you a very serious question, and if you don't answer me, a cold is going to be the least of your worries."

"You don't scare me," Kisa muttered into his pillow, but Shiori didn't hear him. "Fine, whatever."

"Are you and Yukina-san going out?"

"What? No." Kisa scowled and pulled the comforter back up over him now that Shiori wasn't trying to make his illness worse by exposing him to the elements. "We had sex last night and he just didn't leave."

"And you didn't kick him out?"

Kisa frowned into his pillow and ducked his head. "He made curry."

"He made curry?"

"Yes." There was a long silence, long enough for Kisa to pull the covers down and stare at Shiori over the top of them. "What?"

Before Shiori could say anything more, Kisa's phone went off again. It was only once, though, so that meant it was a text message. Kisa sniffled again and sat up, grabbing his phone. Any excuse to not have that particular conversation was a good excuse.

It turned out that it was from Ritsu, saying that Takano-san was demanding proof that he was sick. Kisa groaned and just threw his phone back down. It slid across the bedside table and onto the floor, where it continued to slide until it was hiding under Kisa's dresser.

He was too old for this crap.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Kisa could only stay in bed sleeping for so long. It was summer, after all, and being buried in the covers, even if he had the air conditioner on (or rather, Yukina had turned it on for him) caused him to sweat and be uncomfortable after a few hours and he'd taken enough medicine to temporarily kill his symptoms. It could've also, of course, been that he'd taken so much medicine that he was starting to hallucinate. Yukina's aura _did_ seem extra sparkly when he stumbled out into the kitchen at about four o'clock.

Yukina was over in the living room, sitting on the floor in front of the couch and with a sketchpad on his lap. He looked up when he saw Kisa, though, and a huge smile came over his face. "Kisa-san! Are you feeling better?" He was answered with a rather violent sneeze from Kisa, and his smile grew sheepish. "Well, at least you were able to get out of bed."

Kisa wouldn't say it out loud, of course, but if he had a man he intended to sleep with over, it would be a miracle if they saw him out of bed once he got in. The fact that Yukina was just casually sitting there drawing and not expecting anything to happen was, Kisa had to admit, an anomaly. Considering Kisa had never actually seen Yukina drawing before, he was actually pretty curious. Before he knew what he was doing, he wandered over and sat beside him. Yukina didn't seem to mind, and when he saw Kisa wasn't really up for discussion, he went back to working.

"You must be pretty good," Kisa muttered, leaning away. The drawing only had basic lines right then, so he couldn't really tell what it was supposed to be beyond maybe a human. When Yukina looked at him, he added, "I saw an article about that exhibition you did a few weeks back. Some of your paintings sold for a lot."

There was a long pause, only broken after about two minutes by Kisa starting to sneeze again. When he was done, he looked over to Yukina to see he was holding a tissue out for him, that sparkly smile back on his face. "Are you sure you shouldn't still be in bed, Kisa-san?" he asked as Kisa took it and blew his nose with a loud honking sound. He looked amused, and Kisa just looked pissed-off. "The owner of the café came by while you were asleep and said something about making sure you were actually sick, although it didn't take as much convincing as I thought it would…"

Kisa stopped wiping his nose at that and stared at Yukina, dreading what this information implied. While Kisa was in bed, either asleep or half-asleep and wishing he were dead, Yukina had been talking to his strict boss about how yes, he was incredibly sick, and probably adding on that he didn't need to worry, because Yukina was there to take care of him until he felt better. And he knew Yukina would do it, too. They weren't together, but that certainly didn't stop him from acting like it.

"What did he say?" Kisa dared to ask.

Yukina frowned at that and said, "Well, he said that you should buy a medical mask if you're not feeling better tomorrow because if you're not in to work he'll drag you out of bed himself. Takano-san is a very… strange… man."

"That's one way of putting it." Kisa rolled his eyes and fell back against the couch. "If I had even half as much dedication as you I might have been able to live off my paintings instead of ending up working in a café with two crazy men."

"Two?"

"Never mind."

After a beat of silence, Yukina looked down at his sketchpad and then just flipped it shut. Kisa had been put in an even worse mood than he was already in from being sick, and it seemed that Yukina could tell. Not missing a chance, Yukina leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. "It's hard to make it with something as subjective as art, Kisa-san. It's why I keep my day job."

"You're going to get sick, you know," Kisa said when Yukina pressed their foreheads together. He opened his eyes to see Yukina staring right at him.

"If I were going to get germs from you, I think I would have already," he pointed out. Kisa didn't necessarily looked amused at that, and Yukina kissed him one more time before saying, "Shiori-san brought back some soup and ice pops before she went home. She said ice pops were always your favorite when you had a sore throat."

Kisa couldn't help but let out a chuckle at that, which of course caused him to start coughing. His throat wasn't nearly as sore as it had been earlier that day, but just the few sentences he'd spoken to Yukina had left it feeling raw. He was all ready to go get an ice pop when Yukina managed to stand up before him. "I'll make us some dinner, Kisa-san."

"…can I still have an ice pop?"

"You'll ruin your appetite," Yukina said absentmindedly as he went into the kitchen.

Kisa scowled and fell back against the couch again, watching Yukina work. Yep, the man definitely reminded him of his mother sometimes.

xxx

Kisa did end up going into work the next day, and because Yukina had to get to the gallery before Kisa's shift started, there wasn't even an argument (if you could even call it that) over Yukina bringing him over. He wasn't completely recovered, but it seemed that whatever he'd had, it was just a twenty-four-hour bug. He took Takano's relayed advice and brought a medical mask with him, though, just in case.

Of course, if it was really bad, Takano-san would send him home, if begrudgingly. They did work with food, after all, and it wouldn't due to make the customers uncomfortable because there was a sick man there.

Then again, there was also the possibility of being demoted down to dishwasher duty. Hot water and soap killed germs, after all, even if they also made your hands really wrinkly. It was, Kisa mused as he walked through the front door of Emerald Café, probably the only time he'd have wrinkles any time soon.

He was already dressed, so as he headed to the back room to clock in, he found himself presented with a cup of Emerald Tea. He, of course, could tell it was Emerald Tea because the strong smell of mint wafted from it even when Ichinose was several feet away from him. "We missed you yesterday," Ichinose said as Kisa took the cup and just took a deep breath from it. It was a nice way to clear your sinuses.

"Ha, considering I was passed-out for most of the day, I missed me, too," Kisa muttered before finally taking a sip. After eating the soup Yukina had made, Kisa found himself tired enough to go back to bed and had done so until about eight o'clock, after which he'd woken up long enough to take a shower before going back again. Like the night when they'd drank together, Yukina had gone out into the living room and slept on the couch, only going into Kisa's bedroom to tuck him in and check on him. There was a thermometer involved at one point, and the only thought Kisa had had at the time was that he didn't even know he owned a thermometer. After taking a few sips from his tea, Kisa looked up and realized that Ichinose was staring at him. "What?"

"So you were alone all day?" she asked, her voice having only a slight hint of accusation.

"My sister visited sometime in the morning," Kisa said, shrugging. When Ichinose gave him a look that clearly said that wasn't what she was talking about, Kisa just smiled and headed towards the back room with his cup. "The people who come and go in my apartment are none of your business."

"Ah right, because they're Mino's," Ichinose said with a derisive snort. "I notice you never have him get rid of that Yukina guy, though."

Kisa paused at that. He'd just opened the door and was ready to end the conversation, but Ichinose was giving him a meaningful look, one he knew wouldn't go away just because he had left the room for a minute. So he said, "Yukina's nice."

"He rendered Takano-san speechless," Ichinose said. When Kisa just stared at her, she added, "He was asking Mino about him, if he had been kicked out of the restaurant as one of your exes or not. Said he was over there taking care of you while you were sick."

Kisa just sighed. "If you say so. Now can I go clock-in so I can start earning money, or do you feel like you need to keep me up-to-date on all the office gossip?"

"Well you are the primary contributor," Ichinose said, but it was clear she was teasing at that point.

Right before Kisa went into the room, he said, "If you want some good gossip, just look at your own life."

"My life is vanilla compared to yours." Ichinose rolled her eyes just as Kisa shut the door behind him.

Kisa got his vengeance a little later, though. Around the supper time rush, An-chan was in and she even sat down at one of Kisa's tables. She smiled at him as he took her order, and then Kisa added, "Are you here to see Ichinose-san? I think her shift is supposed to end soon."

"Yes," An-chan said with a soft smile. "There's a new movie out we both wanted to see, so Erika suggested we go after she was done with work today."

"That sounds fun!" Kisa said, because he was still in his waiter mode and he had to be as enthusiastic as possible.

"You can come if you'd like. That is, if you're off soon as well," An-chan suggested.

"Oh, no, I still have a few hours of the grind," Kisa said with a wistful sigh. "And I doubt Ichinose-san would appreciate me barging in on your date, anyway."

An-chan just smiled and ducked her head. She wasn't quite as fun to tease, because if you made hints towards any kind of relationship between them, she wouldn't deny it, just look kind of embarrassed. Ichinose, on the other hand, didn't even seem to be aware that anything was going on between them. She and Chiaki were pretty much the only ones, though, and so Ichinose, Chiaki and Hatori all being in the same room tended to be a very tense scenario.

"Your girlfriend's out there," Kisa said as he gave the order to Chiaki for preparation. Ichinose looked up from where she'd been staring at her phone, and she looked amused.

"No, but your boyfriend is," she said.

Kisa stopped for a minute, the only thing his brain capable of doing for that time being producing random syllables. When he was finally coherent again, he said, "Yukina is not my boyfriend," in the calmest way possible.

Ichinose blinked. "Yukina-san's out there? I was just talking about that guy Mino had to kick out about five minutes ago."

This just made Kisa think in another string of random syllables. Yukina was not, in fact, out there, at least he wasn't before Kisa went into the kitchen. Kisa had even seen that man he'd slept with about a month ago come in and Mino go over to see if he'd be causing trouble or not. Given, Kisa had hidden behind the bar until Mino told him that they could go outside if he wanted to talk since he was disturbing the other customers, but still.

He glared at Ichinose. "You planned that, didn't you?"

"I have my scheming moments, yes." She'd taken an emery board out from who-knows-where at some point and started filing her nails. "And he's not your boyfriend, you say?"

"Well no," Kisa said, glancing over to Chiaki. He was just staring down at the mint cupcake he was frosting for An-chan, pointedly not listening to them. "You of all people should know about how far my relationships with men go."

Ichinose just hmmed in what may have been confirmation before standing up. It was on the hour now, so her shift was over. "Have a good night, Kisa-san."

"You too."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Kisa had gotten used to Yukina showing up when he worked in the evening. His shift ended at seven, and he'd be there by seven-ten even though Jump Art Gallery was across Bunkyo- about a twenty minute ride, and that didn't account for it being a busy time for commuters and just general travel. Kisa never asked how he made it over so quickly, mostly because he felt the need to act like he didn't care.

Ichinose, of course, liked to make constant commentary about it, not really caring when Kisa told her that they always ended up going to one of their apartments and having sex. It was a half lie at best, considering they _did_ end up having sex- after dinner, usually, sometimes housework was involved. But in the end, Kisa still didn't consider himself in a relationship. Relationships implied codependency and routine, and Kisa in no way missed Yukina on the days they didn't get together.

He did find, however, that he and Yukina got together just enough that he found himself ignoring the men who flirted with him and asked if he was doing anything after his shift.

It was during one of Yukina's evening visits that the owner of Jump Art Gallery came wandering in. Kirishima Zen showed up every once in a while, enough to be a familiar face but not enough to have a regular order. He tried to be at least civil with Takano-san, because Kirishima had been with Yokozawa Takafumi for three years, and Yokozawa had been Takano-san's best friend since their college days.

When Kirishima walked in, though, he didn't simply take a seat at the bar and strike up a conversation with Takano-san as he usually did. Instead, he saw Yukina sitting over in a corner drawing and made a beeline for him.

"So this is where you always run off to," Kirishima said with a wry smile.

"Good evening, Kirishima-san," Yukina said, brightening. "I didn't know you came in here."

At that point, Mino came over with a sandwich and coffee, and as he set them down, Kirishima said, "So who here has been stealing you away several times a week?"

At that point, Kisa emerged from the kitchen with another customer's order. When he looked up, Mino was pointing at him, as well as Takano-san at the bar and Ichinose, who'd heard Kirishima's question and stepped out of the kitchen just to do so.

"What?" Kisa asked. When no one said anything, he just shook his head and delivered the cake to the teenage girl who was giggling as he smiled at her. "Enjoy!" He employed his most sparkly aura and she giggled even harder, seeming to forget that it was the cake she was supposed to be there for, not the cute waiter.

Of course, no matter how good the food and drinks were, the main reason a lot of the teenage girls came back was because of the good-looking staff. Everyone knew it, and Takano-san tended to use that fact to his full advantage.

As Kisa walked by again, Kirishima said, "I suppose I can't blame you. He's a cute kid."

Kisa pointedly ignored him, but Yukina smiled and said, "He's, um, not a kid."

"Oh?" Kirishima asked, sounding only mildly interested.

As they continued talking, Kisa went back into the kitchen. He didn't have any new customers, so he didn't necessarily have to be out there. He eyed Yukina and Kirishima as the door closed behind him, and he shook his head.

Ichinose was in there, actually working for once. Someone had ordered one of her specialty parfaits, and so she was putting it together with glee. When Kisa came in, though, she immediately looked up at him and said, "How's your boyfriend, Kisa-san?"

"He's not my boyfriend," Kisa said, sounding more tired than anything. He slumped down on the stool Ichinose usually sat on, glancing around. Chiaki wasn't working right then so it was Ichinose and Mutou in the kitchen. Mutou smiled at him but didn't say anything. Kisa was thankful that at least one of the cooks at the café knew when to stay quiet.

Ichinose just rose an eyebrow, looking interested. As she finished putting the parfait together, she pushed it aside for a second and said, "You didn't tell that to Kirishima-san, I noticed."

Kisa ducked his head. He wasn't sure why he hadn't told Kirishima that it wasn't like that between him and Yukina, he just hadn't. He should've known that his lack of effort would be rewarded by Ichinose picking at him and analyzing everything he did or did not do. Ichinose left the kitchen with the order, though. She wasn't a waiter, but when someone ordered one of her creations, she liked to bring it out to the customer herself so she could see the look on their face when they saw it in person.

Kisa sighed and slumped on the stool, just plain tired. When he looked up, though, Mutou was staring at him. "What?" he asked.

A smile came over Mutou's face, and she went back to putting away what was left of the bread. "Nothing, Kisa-san."

When Kisa's shift ended at eight o'clock, his stomach was growling fiercely. He thought about getting a sandwich from the café before he headed out, but he'd had to pay his bills the previous day and until his next paycheck, he was living on about three-thousand yen. It, unfortunately, looked like he'd be having ramen noodles for the next few days.

"Kisa-san!" Yukina said, and Kisa remembered that he'd stayed there the entire time, just drawing and nursing a second cup of coffee. As soon as he saw Kisa emerge from the bathroom, dressed in his street clothes, he stood up. He'd apparently already paid his bill. Just as he walked up to Kisa, Kisa's stomach decided to be a traitor and growl. "Would you like to get something to eat?"

"…that would be nice," Kisa muttered. He reached into his bag just to check his wallet, but sure enough, he only came up with a couple of bills and some coins. He frowned. "Or not."

Yukina smiled and, putting an arm around his shoulders so he could direct him out, said, "I'll pay today, Kisa-san."

"I'm not a charity case, you know," he said, frowning at the hand on his shoulder. He could hear Ichinose snickering in the background even though she was supposed to be in the kitchen, but he decided to ignore it.

Yukina removed his arm once they were out of the café, though. They started walking along, Yukina oblivious and Kisa ignoring the stares they were getting from passing girls. Kisa was used to that part of being around Yukina by then. He was a good-looking guy, and the happy, sparkly aura he tended to emanate whenever Kisa saw him probably didn't help to fend people off.

"What would you like to eat, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, looking all around. Since they were in a more commercial district, there were other restaurants besides Emerald Café around, and they pretty much had their pick of whatever they wanted.

Kisa ducked his head. "Whatever. You're paying, you know what I like to eat." Kisa didn't even think about that because it was true. They mostly made meals themselves, but Yukina had learned over the past few weeks what Kisa liked eating the most.

So Kisa didn't really see what he had with Yukina as a relationship, but it was nice to have someone around who knew what he liked, and that included a lot more than food. Having sex so much with one person also helped the other person know how to do things. And maybe that was why he ignored other guys. He was spoiled now and kind of flinched when he imagined being with a guy as he would be just a few weeks ago, the often hurried sex where the person didn't care if Kisa got off or not.

Kisa glanced over at Yukina out of the corner of his eye, thinking. He supposed it _did_ look like they were together. Yukina never denied it. But then he shook his head. He had never had a proper relationship in his life, and he wasn't going to start considering it now that he was in his mid-thirties. You can't, after all, teach an old dog new tricks.

xxx

They ended up getting sushi and bringing it back to Kisa's apartment. Even though Kisa had told Yukina he didn't care what he ate that night, he was kind of secretly hoping for something greasy. The most unhealthy thing about his supper was the overly-salty soy sauce, which he double and triple-dipped his sushi in just to spite Yukina, who'd been going on about being healthy. Kisa didn't care about being healthy. If he did, he wouldn't still be at the job that had him keeping such weird hours and irregular sleeping patterns. He wasn't young anymore, after all, and it took a bigger toll on his body than if he were a teenager.

"Do you want some tea, Kisa-san? I think there's still some left from the last time we went shopping," Yukina said. He stood up since he was finished with his own sushi and went to put his dish in the sink.

Kisa just glared down at his almost-finished dinner. Yukina took that as a no, and instead of putting on tea for himself, he padded over to Kisa and leaned down. Kisa murmured happily as Yukina kissed him, moving his arms to wrap around Yukina's shoulder and pull him along towards the bedroom. They ended up tripping over each other's legs, and despite himself, Kisa broke the kiss and started laughing when they hit the floor. He was on bottom so he'd taken the most force, and he winced as he sat up. His back was a little sore.

"Are you okay, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, concerned. Kisa just nodded, small laughs still erupting from him in bursts. Once Yukina was sure Kisa wasn't hurt, he leaned back down and started kissing him again. Kisa pushed his tongue into Yukina's mouth, stroking Yukina's and pulling a soft moan of pleasure for his efforts.

Yukina muttered something against Kisa's lips. Kisa didn't quite catch it, but one of the words sounded suspiciously like 'love.' Kisa paused, pulling his tongue back in his own mouth.

He considered asking Yukina what he had said. Just the word 'love' could freak him out, it seemed. But then he decided he was just hearing things. He was still in the habit of looking for any excuse to get rid of a guy, after all.

"Yukina…" Kisa said, pulling fully away and putting his hand over Yukina's mouth when the man tried to connect for another kiss. "I think I just want to go to bed."

Yukina smiled. "Alright, Kisa-san." He leaned forward and gave Kisa a gentle kiss before saying, "I should probably go home now anyway, before the subways close down for the night."

Kisa nodded in agreement, resisting the urge to tell Yukina that he didn't need to go home. Maybe, he mused as he sat there on the floor watching Yukina put on his shoes, he was getting to used to having him around. That could, of course, be easily remedied.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Yukina whimpered as he came, scrunching his eyes shut and pushing himself into Kisa as far as possible. Kisa had already finished but Yukina was still stroking his cock, trying to prolong his orgasm as much as possible. He'd gotten a lot better at it in the couple weeks they'd been having sex. He hadn't, however, gotten rid of the habit of pulling Kisa to him and just kissing him softly after sex, on the lips, on the neck, on his collarbones. Kisa never found himself protesting the treatment, but he did feel the need to mutter that he was uncomfortable so Yukina would let him go when he did it this time.

They just laid there for a few minutes, Kisa trying to get his bearings again and Yukina just smiling up at the ceiling like he was the happiest man in the world. He also always got that goofy smile after sex, and Kisa didn't understand it. Sure, Kisa loved sex, but it didn't seem to have nearly the mood-lifting affect that it did on Yukina. Sometimes Kisa wished it did, because then he wouldn't spend so many days moping about the state of his life and worrying about the criticisms lobbed at him by family and coworkers alike.

Not that Kisa particularly cared, considering anything they could say to him he'd already thought about himself a dozen times. But it got old after a while, to the point where he sometimes wondered if them telling him he needed to stop screwing around actually had some merit.

Kisa rolled over and glanced to his side. Then again, ceasing his screwing around probably meant he had to 'settle down' with someone closer to his age, and he'd rather have no-strings-attached sex with a guy nine to ten years younger than him than have to go home every day to someone who shared his worries about jobs and aging.

Yukina noticed Kisa staring at him, and he smiled and leaned down to press their lips together. The kiss was soft and innocent, holding no promise of a second round, not that Kisa was necessarily up to it right then. He wasn't sure he could even stand up right then, partly from the hard fucking he'd demanded from Yukina as soon as they entered his apartment, and partly from the feeling that all his bones had melted from pleasure.

He was hungry, though, and Yukina pulled out of the kiss and smiled when Kisa's stomach growled. Kisa had been hoping Yukina would just see himself out since he'd gotten sex. Usually they did things before having sex, and he figured that if they just got right to it, Yukina would want to leave after he got what Kisa knew they both wanted. Instead, Yukina pushed up on the futon and said, "Would you like something to eat, Kisa-san?"

"Yeah, sure," Kisa muttered despite himself, trying to gather the strength to do more than roll around on the bed. He still only managed to roll onto his side again, but he got a nice view of Yukina's backside as the man leaned down to the floor, looking for his clothes.

Kisa had been grocery shopping when he met up with Yukina, who seemed to know every detail of Kisa's life right down to the grocery store he was most likely to frequent. Of course there was the fact that it was the same one Yukina had brought him to when the two went grocery shopping. It seemed to be just a coincidence, but Kisa never did believe in coincidences like that.

Yukina finally got dressed and left the bedroom, closing the door behind him in what was probably an attempt to let Kisa rest while he cooked. Kisa just sighed and put his feet down on the floor, rubbing his back and feeling regretful. He'd brought Yukina home and had him fuck him into the mattress in an attempt to give Yukina another chance. He didn't want a relationship, he wanted someone who would give him sex and then disappear.

But, Kisa thought as he listened to Yukina moving around in the kitchen, it wasn't exactly working. They'd had sex, and now Yukina was still sticking around to cook for them both. Kisa was acutely aware of just how easily Yukina could have a cute little woman and settle down into the kind of life Kisa's friends that didn't know he was gay were telling him he should've gotten long ago. And yet he was spending all his extra time and energy on the old man who just wanted sex with a young guy.

No matter how he looked at it, Kisa just saw himself as a pervert holding onto Yukina because he didn't want to get rid of his toy. He knew he shouldn't have let it go on as long as he had. There was a reason he only slept with guys once, sometimes twice, he supposed. As Yukina continued working, Kisa rolled back into bed and decided the best course of action was to cut ties before it got any worse.

xxx

Kisa had a system he employed when he needed to avoid a man. It mostly involved hiding, but it was harder to do with Yukina because the man had been around in his life a lot more than most other men he had slept with. The guy knew his general schedule so he knew when he'd be able to see him at Emerald Café. Usually the men he slept with would just go to the café, hoping he showed up. He actually had no idea how many men actually stopped by, trying to see him, because Mino hinted that plenty came when he wasn't working as well.

However, it wasn't exactly working for him. Yukina was quite aware of Kisa's schedule for the week, since Kisa had told him so they'd know when they could meet up and when Kisa would be too tired for sex. Then again, Yukina would still show up when Kisa was too tired for sex and simply take care of him, which Kisa decided, in retrospect, should've been the first and only sign he needed to determine that he was getting in too deep. Then again, he'd never been with a man who tried to take care of him like Yukina did. Perhaps he just hadn't seen it until it was too late.

It was the third day of avoiding Yukina that Ichinose finally spotted him going out the back door and stopped him, saying, "May I ask what exactly you're doing?"

"…going home," Kisa said. It was nine at night, but he'd only worked to eight that evening. The extra hour had been spent trying to figure out a way to work around seeing Yukina that night. The younger man had been sitting out in the café, and Kisa was hoping that when he saw Kisa wasn't coming out after he knew his shift had ended, Yukina would just get up and leave, taking it for a lost cause.

He didn't, however, and Kisa had ended up sneaking past behind the bar and quietly opening the door to the kitchen, where the door the bread was delivered through was. Ichinose was the only one left since it was almost closing time, and of course she couldn't just leave it alone.

"Uh huh," Ichinose said. Then she glanced through the window on the door, and she rose an eyebrow when she saw Yukina still sitting there at his table, not looking put-out at all that he'd been waiting over an hour for Kisa to appear. "Is there any reason you've been avoiding Yukina-san for three days now?"

"I'm not—_avoiding_ him," Kisa said, folding his arms and pulling the strap of his bag back onto his shoulder. "I just don't feel as if our relationship needs to go any further."

"…so why don't you just have Mino bounce him?" Ichinose went back to the window and watched as Yukina drew in a sketchbook, that eternal, sparkly smile on his face as he presumably still waited for Kisa.

Kisa ducked his head. "I don't really want to do that."

"Why?"

"…because he's still a good kid," Kisa muttered. Ichinose had moved out of the way during their conversation and Kisa was able to get to the door and open it. "I just don't feel like I should lead him on anymore."

"Lead him on?" Ichonose asked, her eyebrows going straight up into her hairline. "Kisa, if you two spent any more time with each other, I was fully ready to ask when the wedding was."

Kisa smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand and just slipped through the door before Ichinose could decide to bug him or push the point any more. He sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. He was sweating, but whether it was because of the heat (it had to be in the mid-thirties) or the fact that he was escaping from Yukina for the third day in a row, he couldn't tell. But in the end, he simply slipped through the allies, taking a route back to his apartment that he hadn't had to use in almost a month.

xxx

It was another hour before Kisa heard a knock on his door. He was hoping rather hard that it was another man he had slept with in the past. He was willing to bring the guy in and blow him if that's what it took to get his mind off Yukina. As he pushed away the instant ramen he'd made for himself, though, he should've known that his luck wasn't anywhere near as good as that. It was a good thing that his door had a peephole, though, because he was able to look through it and see Yukina standing there.

So, he was able to quietly lock the door and put up the deadbolt so Yukina couldn't just come in and sneak away so he could finish his dinner and just go to bed. He heard Yukina's voice, saying, "Kisa-san? Are you home?" but he ignored it, ducking his head as he sat on the couch with his ramen. Eventually he heard Yukina's footsteps retreating down the walkway, but not a minute later, his cell phone sounded.

Checking the display, he saw that it was Yukina.

"There's no escape from this guy!" Kisa said angrily, and instead of blocking Yukina's number like he'd done to dozens of men before, he simply shut his phone off so he wouldn't receive any more calls. He'd had men who were persistent before, but they'd never known where he lived, because he'd been smart enough to bring them to love hotels instead of letting them into his apartment several times. Kisa hunched his shoulders, trying to decide what to do.

He didn't _want_ Yukina in his life anymore. He was perfectly happy with floating between men, despite what anyone else might tell you or him. He hadn't slept with a single other man since meeting Yukina, and while he'd certainly slowed down since his college days, he'd never had sex so many times with one man (admittedly a few men he'd spent several hours with and achieved multiple orgasms before he got tired of the guy).

Finally, Kisa sighed and turned his cell phone on again. A message popped up saying he had a missed call from Yukina, but instead of answering it, he called his mother's cell phone and asked if he could stay over for a few days. At that point, it was probably the one place he could stay that Yukina wouldn't find him.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

For Kisa, staying with his parents made it easy to avoid Yukina. He had to change his routine, of course; his parents lived outside of Tokyo, in a more residential area that had houses instead of apartments stacked on one another and meant for a single person. So he had to leave earlier than he would from his apartment and ride a train back into the city, which wasn't really a problem. He chose himself to put in the extra effort so he wouldn't ride the lines he knew Yukina did on the way to work, and to duck out of the café as soon as he clocked out whether he saw Yukina waiting there for him or not.

That particular afternoon, after having an opening shift at the café, Kisa just wanted to get back to his parents' house and collapse onto the couch, which he was stationed on for his stays since both his and Shiori's rooms had been relegated to other uses. Kisa was fine with that; it wasn't like he planned to permanently move in with his parents. He'd probably only be staying there a few days more anyway, just long enough to be sure Yukina had given up on him. The man had already stopped calling.

It didn't help Kisa's nerves when he looked up at the train just coming in and saw Yukina getting off it. He immediately tensed up, but because there was a huge crowd getting off the train and just the general milling about of station-goers, Yukina didn't spot him right away. Kisa had little time to think, and he ended up ducking behind a trash can over in a small coffee shop, taking short looks every few seconds to make sure Yukina hadn't spotted him and was making his way over.

"Whatcha doing?"

Kisa jumped in surprise, knocking the trash can but not sending it to the floor, thankfully. He knew that the person who'd found him wasn't Yukina; the voice was female. But it had still scared the hell out of him, and he whirled around to see his sister standing there. She was dressed casually, with shopping bags in both hand and no sign of Shizuko. It was a weekend, though, so her husband was probably home and able to care for their daughter.

"Nothing!" Kisa said, and he crouched back down behind the trash can again. Shiori got on her knees, not willing to sit down on the station floor, probably for fear that it was filthy and disgusting and hadn't been cleaned in a week.

"So you're just sitting here behind a trash can in the subway for kicks," Shiori said, voice flat. When Kisa wouldn't look at her and just shrugged one shoulder, she sighed and put her bags down so she had better mobility. Then she patted Kisa's hair and added, "You're hiding, aren't you?"

"Why would you think that?" Kisa asked. There was an overhead announcement, and though Shiori didn't pay attention to it, Kisa did. His train back to his parents' house was coming in, and he had to get going. With a quick look around to make sure Yukina wasn't between him and the platform, he said a quick goodbye over his shoulder to Shiori and ran for it.

He got on the train just in time for the doors to close and it to start off, and when he took one last glance through the window at his sister, it seemed that she had spotted something and was heading towards it. Kisa just shook his head and took a handle, not even bothering to look for a seat.

When Kisa got home, his mother greeted him with a quick hello followed by a very pointed, "You need to do your laundry, Shouta."

Well it wasn't as if Kisa left his clothes laying out after he changed or anything, but he'd been staying with his parents for four days now and she seemed to be giving those little hints more and more frequently. As he had thought earlier, though, he'd only be staying for a couple more days. He was tempted to ask if he could stay longer simply because seeing Yukina there in the station had scared him, but he wasn't going to risk it. His mother was already getting irate.

Kisa picked up the laundry hamper his parents had afforded him when he asked to stay for a few days and headed towards the back of the house, where the washer and dryer were kept. It was a rather bare room, with a concrete floor and drab, white walls. The only decorations were the wooden shelves where his mother kept the laundry soap and other essentials.

Kisa was just loading the washer, trying to ignore the ugly, peeling paint that surrounded him, when his mother called, "Shouta!"

"Yeah?"

"Someone's here to see you!"

Kisa froze, calculating in his head the possibility that it was someone he needed to hide from. The only people who knew he was staying with his parents were his parents themselves. He hadn't even mentioned it to any of his coworkers, for fear that they'd tell Yukina. He _had_ heard his mother on the phone with Shiori yesterday, asking if she knew why he suddenly had an interest in spending time with them but…

Kisa took a deep breath and pushed the hamper aside so he could walk out into the living room and look for himself. Sure enough it was his sister, but she wasn't alone. Yukina was behind her, removing his shoes and bowing respectfully to Kisa and Shiori's very confused mother. "My name is Yukina Kou," he said, as if his name could solve all her questions.

It didn't, but Kisa's mother didn't seem to attribute this strange man being in her house as anything to do with Kisa, so instead, she stared at Shiori until her daughter leaned over and started whispering rapidly in her ear. Kisa heard words like 'boyfriend' and 'avoiding' and Kisa's mother didn't seem to think it necessary to be whispering. She replied with, "Well why would he be avoiding him? He seems… nice."

"That's exactly the problem, I suppose," Shiori said, folding her arms and watching as Yukina stepped out of the genkan and approached Kisa.

"Kisa-san!" Yukina said, his sparkly aura flaring now that he was in Kisa's presence. "I haven't seen you in almost a week. Is something wrong?"

Kisa winced. Yukina always seemed so naïve, no matter what. He even acted like that during sex, and Kisa couldn't help but feel like he was having sex with a virgin every single time. He was used to being the one who acted young and innocent. There was a large and unsurprising market for it among the type of man you could pick up at a bar.

Now that Yukina was right there in front of him, Kisa found that he was having a hard time lying. So he said, "I just… needed some time away is all." He wasn't able to look Yukina in the eye.

Shiori whispered something in her mother's ear, and they both started laughing. Kisa glared at the two women, and they cleared their throats and went to the kitchen, as if it would protect them from Kisa's wrath. He decided that they could be dealt with later. He currently had a smiling Yukina in front of him and what he knew would be a very hard time explaining that he didn't want to see him anymore.

"Kisa-san," Yukina started, and Kisa winced again, expecting the worst. "You could've told me that's what you wanted. I would've respected that. I haven't seen you in a week, so I was worried something had happened, or that you were… tired of me."

It sounded mean, when Yukina laid it out like that. Kisa was about to respond when he noticed Yukina had taken both of his hands, their fingers laced together. When Kisa said nothing, Yukina leaned down and kissed him full on the lips. If he was being honest, Kisa would've preferred that they were alone so the kiss could lead to other, better activities. But he supposed that after a week of no contact with Yukina, he couldn't really ask them to jump right back into bed. Even if that was how it worked with all the other men.

When they both pulled out of the kiss, Kisa sighed and leaned into Yukina so his head was laying against the taller man's chest. He could hear Yukina's heartbeat as Yukina wrapped his arms around his shoulders, not feeling the need to really say anything.

xxx

There were several reasons that Kisa wasn't going to stay any more nights with his parents. One of them was that the couch was uncomfortable and his back had been aching dully since the second night. Another was that his mother had walked in on the two as they hugged and invited Yukina to stay for dinner, which Yukina had readily accepted. Shiori had, apparently, put it in their mother's head that Yukina was his boyfriend and Kisa never seemed to be able to tell her that it wasn't like that.

Of course Yukina didn't help the cause at all. He was constantly touching Kisa as dinner preparations commenced, a kiss here, a hand squeeze there. When he saw how sour Kisa was about it, Yukina had told him that they hadn't been together in a week and that he had missed him. Kisa decided that he needed to stay out in the living room while Yukina helped with the cooking.

The other thing was that his mother was treating Yukina exactly like family, and he kind of hated it. Yukina was still expendable, after all, and Kisa was sure that even though it hadn't happened yet, he'd get tired of being with an old man and move on. Kisa didn't care. There were plenty of other men, as he knew full-well.

"Kisa-san?"

Kisa looked up from messing around with his phone to see Yukina had left the kitchen. Once Kisa acknowledged him, Yukina sat down beside him and leaned in, placing a kiss on top of his head. Kisa flinched but hid it by pretending that he was still concerned with his phone. "Yeah?" he finally asked when he hit a bomb on Minesweeper.

"I've been working on projects lately, and I wanted to go out to the Rainbow Bridge and take some pictures that I can paint from later," Yukina said, pushing Kisa's bangs out of his eyes with a smile. "I wondered if you wanted to go out there with me."

"What's so great about the Rainbow Bridge?" Kisa asked. Of course everyone in Tokyo knew; the Rainbow Bridge connected mainland Tokyo with the island Odaiba was located on, and at night, it lit up in a multicolored display that was mostly a tourist trap and an attraction for lovey-dovey couples. Kisa winced just at that thought.

"Well, I planned to go there so I could take pictures after nightfall, and it would be nice to not be alone." Yukina was still running his fingers through Kisa's hair, and Kisa had no idea how he hadn't noticed it until then.

Shiori was hanging out of the kitchen, watching them like she was hanging on their every word. Yukina didn't look like he was particularly impatient for Kisa's reply; he seemed content to just sit there, the minimal contact afforded to him at the moment keeping him happy.

Kisa just nodded and said, "Sure. I'll let you know when I can come." He also decided that this was a lot of work to put in to getting a man to continually have sex with him.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

It was hard avoiding Yukina, but Kisa found over the next few days that it was quite easy getting back into a routine with him. Kisa managed to avoid meeting with him at the café though, mostly because he knew what Ichinose would say if she found out Kisa had failed to kick a man out of his life.

So, when Kisa was supposed to meet up with Yukina to go to the Rainbow Bridge, he ended up meeting with the man at Jump Art Gallery. He hadn't really spent time there since he visited with Shiori and Shizuko, but he knew his way around. When he walked in, though, Yukina was right at the front. He was talking to a group of girls that Kisa suspected was the same one from the last time he was there. Yukina was in his street clothes, though, so they'd probably caught him on his way out.

Kisa felt himself becoming annoyed with the girls as they giggled and tittered over Yukina. He was annoyed at Yukina too, though, mostly because he was smiling and looking like he was relishing the attention. Kisa had vowed he'd wait at the entrance, but he found himself walking over.

"Kisa-san!" Yukina noticed Kisa when he was about halfway across the lobby. All three girls turned as Yukina walked over to him.

Before Yukina could do anything, Kisa pulled him down by the front of his shirt and into a kiss. Yukina was surprised at first, but then eagerly returned it, taking a hold of one of Kisa's hands. The girls Yukina had been talking to were silent, simply gaping at the display.

Kisa finally ended the kiss, parting their lips and pulling his tongue from Yukina's mouth. He was ready to just pull Yukina across town and demand sex, but he didn't get the chance.

"Would you like dinner before we go to the bridge?" Yukina squeezed Kisa's hand and gave him a warmer, less flash smile than the one he'd directed at the girls.

Kisa could feel the eyes of the girls on them. He'd never really noticed this kind of thing with past men. Yukina noticed and, still holding Kisa's hand, he turned to the girls and said, "This is Kisa Shouta. Kisa-san, these girls are regulars here at the gallery."

Kisa bowed, smiling the way he always did for customers at Emerald Café. "Hello," he greeted. When he stood up straight, Yukina put an arm around his shoulders and Kisa didn't protest.

They kissed one more time before Yukina said, "Dinner?"

"Sure." Kisa gave the girls a very pointed look as Yukina directed them both out. When they got outside, though, Kisa pushed Yukina's arm from his shoulders, frowning at the fact that Yukina didn't move his arm himself. Then he realized that Yukina was asking where he wanted to go eat, so he just said, "We can pick up something on the way," and put about a person's distance between them.

When he looked up, Yukina was staring at him like he was confused why Kisa was acting like that, but he just shook his head and went back to watching the crowd.

xxx

It was still light out when they got to Tokyo Bay, so the bridge wasn't lit up yet. It was close to nightfall, though, and so there were plenty of tourists speaking a myriad of languages that neither Kisa nor Yukina understood milling around. Some of them would take pictures of the bridge despite that it wasn't lit up yet, but most were eating. Kisa was doing the same, but Yukina was looking out at the bay, debating something.

Kisa was paying too much attention to his sandwich to notice it was dark enough for the bridge to be lit up until the people around him started muttering and snapping pictures. It wasn't just tourists, either, it was couples who had come out to see the bridge as a romantic date. He yawned as he sat there on his bench, watching Yukina raise his camera up and snap picture after picture.

The bridge itself lived up to its names; the arches were lit up with all the colors of the rainbow. There were boats going to and from the island as well, with twinkling lights that Kisa could just glance from his position. Yukina himself was shrouded in darkness as he held his camera up. When Kisa stood and went over, though, his entire front was glowing with the light.

"Have you ever been out to see this before, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked, letting his camera drape around his neck on its strap.

Kisa shook his head. "Nah. I was always too busy. And I didn't live in Tokyo until my third year of university, so it was kind of a trip."

Yukina did not try to touch Kisa in any capacity as the other man stood there beside him, staring at the bridge. Cars went by at a steady pace, and eventually, Yukina ducked his head and said, "You didn't seem to mind the long train ride into the city a few days ago, Kisa-san."

Kisa gulped at that, going back to sitting on his bench. He thought that eventually Yukina would want a real explanation for why he went MIA for a week. Yukina didn't look like he was pushing it, but Kisa still gulped again, getting himself ready. "I just felt a little overwhelmed," he said with a laugh. He had his hands in his lap and he was staring down at them. When a flash burst near him, though, he looked up and realized that Yukina had taken a picture of him. "Do you mind?"

"I'm sorry, Kisa-san," Yukina said with a smile, letting his camera fall to his chest again. "But you were in such a good position that it seemed a shame to waste it."

"I thought you were here to take pictures of the bridge," Kisa muttered, scowling and folding his arms. His cheeks were painted with just the slightest hint of red, though. He flinched when Yukina leaned down and pushed his bangs out of his eyes. "What?"

Yukina smiled as he picked the camera back up and started going through the viewfinder. "I thought the lights reflecting in your eyes looked nice. Unfortunately, my camera can't pick up such details."

Kisa would admit that he couldn't remember any of the men he'd been with previously giving him such compliments. Without really thinking about it he closed his eyes, suddenly conscious of the effect they seemed to have on Yukina.

He couldn't keep them closed for long, though. Even he would admit that the view was nice, and so he ended up standing there beside Yukina as he took picture after picture. When Kisa asked why he needed so many, Yukina said that he wanted to be able to pick. Kisa tried to focus on the view and ignore the couples around them, but eventually, they got rather distracting.

"Are you ready to go yet?" he asked, averting his eyes from one that quite clearly was not bothered by the fact that there were people around them.

"Are you getting cold, Kisa-san? I have a jacket back in my car." They'd taken Yukina's car to the bay rather than the subway simply because he'd driven it to work that day and it seemed easier. They hardly ever used it, though, so Kisa still wasn't used to riding in something that didn't involve him being squashed-in with dozens of other people. The leg room alone was astounding.

It was, admittedly, a bit cold since they were right near the ocean, but that certainly wasn't Kisa's plan. He just wanted to get out of there, possibly drag Yukina up to his apartment and still have his dirty way with him.

Kisa paused at that. 'Possibly?' Since when did he think that sex wasn't the entire purpose of them doing things like this, anyway?

"I'm not cold," Kisa muttered, folding his arms again and averting his eyes. Yukina followed his gaze and seemed to realize the true reason Kisa felt uncomfortable.

Yukina leaned down. "Do you mind if I kiss you, Kisa-san?"

Or not.

Kisa frowned but didn't say no, so Yukina leaned down and into a kiss. It was soft and sweet, the kind Yukina would give him when saying goodbye for the night or would sneak when Kisa walked through as he was making them a meal. Normally it would annoy Kisa, but he let it pass and watched as Yukina looked back out over the bay, the camera in his hands.

"Oh! One more thing and then we can go," Yukina said. He reached into his bag and pulled out a tripod. At first Kisa didn't really understand the relevance, until Yukina added, "I wanted to get a picture of both of us."

"…no," Kisa said, his arms still folded like a petulant child.

Yukina didn't frown, but he still looked somewhat disconcerted at the fact that Kisa had refused so easily. "Kisa-san, we've known each other for almost a month now and we don't have a single picture together."

Before he could stop himself, he said out loud, "I don't have pictures of myself with any of the other guys, either."

That gave Yukina pause, and Kisa snapped his mouth shut. He'd meant that to be a thought, not something he actually said. Not that Kisa was a stranger to rejecting weird requests from the guys he slept with, mostly because they got so clingy that he'd have to let them know that meeting up after work or going out in public together was out of the question.

Kisa snorted. Then what did he call this?

"Look, if you're not done here yet I'll just take the subway home. Goodnight, Yukina." Kisa ducked his head and was ready to make his way through the landmine of couples when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He was spun around and stunned when Yukina planted a searing kiss on his lips, one completely different from the kiss they'd shared the last time.

"Kisa-san," Yukina said after pulling away. Kisa expected that to be all, but he continued. "I really did miss you this past week." He wrapped his arms around Kisa's shoulders in a hug, and after a bit, Kisa raised his arms up and returned it.

"Yeah. Me too."

Yukina didn't get his picture, because by the time they parted, he realized that he had work in the morning and that it was better to just get home. Kisa nodded and followed absently as Yukina picked up his bag, camera and tripod and headed for his car.

"Um, by the way, Kisa-san," Yukina said as they drove through the lit streets. "My parents offered to let me stay at our vacation house for a few days. It's on the ocean, and there's supposed to be a heat wave."

"What, more than this?" Kisa asked. The further away from the ocean they got, the hotter it was. The buildings and skyscrapers of the city seemed to trap the heat and reflect it back on them twenty-fold, to the point where Kisa took a loose sketchbook from Yukina's dashboard and started using it as a fan.

"I suppose so," Yukina said with a smile. "Anyway, the town it's in happens to be having their summer festival when I'd be staying, and I wondered if you'd like to come with me, if you can get the time off work."

"And what, stay with your parents?" Kisa asked, not exactly relishing the idea.

Yukina shook his head. "I'm afraid my parents can't make it right now. They're rather busy these days."

Kisa rose his eyebrows at that. An entire place to themselves for several days, no interruptions, be they people or work? It was, Kisa thought as he agreed as long as Ritsu gave him the days off, a rather good opportunity to catch up on all the missed sex of the past week.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

It was about a half hour before Kisa's shift ended when Yukina stepped into Emerald Café. Kisa had convinced Ritsu to give him the days off he'd need to go with Yukina to his family's vacation home, and since it was only an hour down the coast by train from Tokyo, they were leaving that night. Unfortunately, that meant Kisa would have to talk to Ichinose about it, because the minute she saw Yukina walk in, she became suspicious.

"Weren't you trying to avoid him?" Ichinose asked after Kisa came back into the kitchen to drop off Yukina's order.

Kisa ducked his head and gave Chiaki the order slip. Chiaki, for his part, at least knew better than to become part of that particular conversation.

"He's that good, huh?" Ichinose asked.

Kisa frowned and folded his arms. "We haven't had sex in two weeks," he said. Chiaki looked alarmed when Kisa said this, but Kisa and Ichinose both ignored him.

Ichinose looked like she was considering this as Chiaki got the order ready. "Then why can't you get rid of him?"

"I just… can't," Kisa said. When Ichinose gave him a look, he shook his head. "How is this any of your business, anyway?"

"Because I care about you, Kisa-san," Ichinose said, holding a hand to her heart in an almost dramatic way. "And Mino-san does, too. He also seems to like getting rid of those crazy guys you sleep with who stalk you here, and you haven't slept with any of those kinds of men since you met Yukina-san." Ichinose folded her arms.

Chiaki was almost done frosting the cupcake Yukina had ordered, and the tea was already there on the counter. Kisa was tempted to take the tea out to him early and just go back for the cupcake. Any reason to get out of the kitchen was fine with him. Unfortunately, Ichinose seemed to remember something else she'd been meaning to ask Kisa, because before he could go for the tea, she said, "By the way, you have the next few days off, right? Going somewhere?"

"Yukina's family owns a house down the coast and he invited me to go visit with him," Kisa said, wishing Chiaki would hurry up. Kisa didn't really give a shit about presentation right then even though he knew Takano-san would kill him for having such a thought.

"So you're going on vacation together," Ichinose said, her voice flat. Kisa eyed her warily, and she continued with, "Just a few days ago you weren't even living in Tokyo because you were trying to avoid him, and now you're meeting his parents."

"His parents aren't going to be there!" Kisa said as if it defended his reasons. To him it did, of course, but Ichinose just kept looking at him like she thought he'd finally gone insane. Kisa noticed that Chiaki was done frosting the cupcake, though, so he grabbed it and headed for the door. Mino was coming through just as Kisa backed out, though, and they ended up crashing into each other.

Chiaki screamed as the cupcake went flying through the air, but before it could hit the floor and be ruined, Kisa managed to lean down and catch it, along with the tea. He even caught some that had splashed out of the cup. When he righted himself, a group of girls sitting near the kitchen were clapping, apparently having seen him. Kisa grinned sheepishly and just headed for Yukina's table before anything else could happen.

"That was impressive, Kisa-san," Yukina said as Kisa set it all down on the table.

Kisa laughed a bit, looking embarrassed. "I've worked here for years, that isn't the first time I've had to do something like that. And Takano-san would have my head if I wasted food."

Since it was the middle of the afternoon, there weren't that many people in there. This was good for Kisa since it meant he probably wouldn't have to do much work in the last half hour of his shift, and it also meant he wouldn't have to go back into the kitchen with order slips and have to hear Ichinose trying to tell him that he was being an idiot for not recognizing that he and Yukina were in a relationship.

Kisa went back to the counter, glancing over at Yukina periodically. It had been a month including the time that he tried to avoid Yukina. When it came right down to it, Kisa could remember every time they had sex, and it wasn't a number he was proud of. Yukina was good, but he was also easily distracted and Kisa more often than not ended up going along with him and ending the night with nothing but some kisses.

Not that the kisses weren't good, of course. Kisa couldn't remember the last time he'd kissed a man and enjoyed it so much. But he wanted more, or at least that's what he told himself every time someone accused him and Yukina of being in a romantic relationship.

"You might want to hide, Kisa-san," Mino said with that eerie smile on his face. Kisa was still leaning on the counter, and when he glanced to where Mino was looking, he saw that a man was entering the café. He didn't recognize this man, but the man seemed to recognize him, and he started over.

It was too late to hide as Mino had suggested, so Kisa just held his ground. Before the man could even say two words to him, though, Yukina was suddenly sitting at the counter instead of at his table, and the man who'd come in to see Kisa seemed utterly confused. For about five seconds, until he decided that the man who'd suddenly appeared didn't matter and went about his business.

"Where have you been? I haven't seen you in a month," the man said, trying to sound friendly.

This man still didn't ring any bells. If he hadn't seen Kisa in a month, though, it was quite likely that he had slept with this man right before meeting Yukina. He must not have been memorable enough to draw, though.

"…I'm sorry, who are you?" Kisa finally asked, since there wasn't much he could do if he didn't even know the guy's name.

"We were supposed to meet and you never showed up," the man said, still smiling. Kisa blinked, finally remembering: he _had_ planned to meet with a man before Yukina showed up at Emerald Café and dragged Kisa to T University's art gallery. He hadn't even thought about this man after that day, and he'd never seen him again. "I haven't seen you in here at all lately so I thought you might've quit."

"Just been busy," Kisa said, trying not to let his voice crack. Mino was nowhere in sight and he had no idea why, considering the fact that Ichinose was right: Mino enjoyed bouncing the men out of the café. It was the one time Takano-san didn't care if they were rude to a customer, although admittedly, the men hardly ever came in and actually ordered anything. It was bad for business to have a man in there, waiting to talk to a waiter and causing a scene. "Anyway, my shift's almost done so…"

"Is that an offer?" The man's smile turned to a grin, and Kisa frowned.

"No, it's not," Kisa said. He noted that the man had taken a hold of one of his arms, and he jerked it back. "I have a train to catch so I won't have time to mess around."

"I doubt it would take either of us that long." He tried to put his hand back on Kisa's arm but was denied. "I've never had sex in a public place."

"Oh please, I get more of a thrill out of touching myself," Kisa muttered. When he realized that both Yukina and the man were staring at him, he said, "Just go home or find someone else willing to screw you, I don't care." He waved his hand in a gesture that made it clear the man should go now. He didn't, though. "What?"

The man leaned forward on the counter, cupping his chin in one hand. "I know your reputation, you know, and I was told that you never reject a guy even if you have something else to do. So what, do you think I'm not good enough?"

Kisa frowned at that. This man clearly didn't intend to give up. Then he eyed Yukina, who was happily eating his cupcake and looked like he was going to leave this to Kisa as long as possible. Then he just shook his head and said, "No, because my boyfriend is sitting right there."

There was a sudden pause in the conversation that Ritsu was having with a customer who was just paying for their food because Ritsu had stopped talking at that and just gaped at Kisa. Takano-san didn't seem to care, Ichinose and Chiaki were still in the kitchen, and Mino was still MIA. At least Kisa didn't have that big of an audience for this one.

"You have a boyfriend."

"Yes."

"And it's this guy." The man waved his hand over to Yukina, who was watching the exchange again probably in case he needed to somehow prove that he was, in fact, Kisa's boyfriend. "You probably don't even know his name."

Kisa rolled his eyes. "Yukina Kou, twenty-four, tour guide at Jump Art Gallery, went to T University for the Arts. His favorite food is vegetable stir-fry even though he knows I hate healthy shit like that."

"If you ate healthier you wouldn't be so affected by your varying work schedule, Kisa-san," Yukina offered. Kisa had nothing to say to that, so he just smiled and went back to his cupcake.

This was about the time that Mino appeared, and before Kisa could say anything, he was directing the man out of the café with a smile and a 'have a nice day!' because everyone pretty much knew that he wasn't going to order anything and Takano-san didn't like wasted space.

Yukina stayed there in his seat at the counter for the last few minutes of Kisa's shift, watching Kisa as he went around, gathering orders from a couple tables that came in to sit at the last minute. Kisa, for his part, was trying not to think about what had just happened. It wasn't just that he had used the excuse of Yukina being his boyfriend to not sleep with the guy, although when he thought about it, he probably could've given an excuse that didn't have to do with him being tied-down. It was the fact that he was able to prove he knew Yukina, even if it was just some basic facts. It was certainly more than he'd ever cared to learn about guys in the past. Most he didn't even get the name of.

The clock in the corner struck three and Kisa finally sighed, slumping against the counter. He was drained, and since they had an hour car ride ahead of them, he was looking forward to taking a nap. "Are you all right, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked. He'd long-since finished his cupcake and was now just sipping his tea, watching Kisa as the older man slowly made his way towards the bathroom so he could change into his street clothes before he clocked out.

Kisa nodded even though he wasn't. The thoughts going through his head certainly weren't ones he needed to share with Yukina.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

The train ride as only an hour, but Kisa still planned to use it to sleep. If he had his way, Yukina wouldn't even get out of the vacation house's genkan without a handjob. They'd have sex in every room in the house if everything went right.

In the meantime, Kisa had been working since five and he needed a nap.

"Kisa-san, I wanted to ask you something," Yukina said as the landscape rushed by their train window. Kisa didn't reply, and when Yukina looked, the older man leaned against his shoulder, asleep. His bangs were hanging in his eyes and he was already breathing slowly. After work, he'd changed into a simple ensemble of a t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. For the first time since Yukina found out Kisa's age, he actually thought about the man's young looks.

Yukina wasn't in love with Kisa for his looks, it was that the difference in his boyish looks and his attitude was staggering to him. There was also, however, the baffling part of their relationship involving Kisa not actually thinking they were in one. It had never really been said, but Yukina had just assumed himself a taken man that night he sat down to a dinner of curry after Kisa gave him a handjob in his genkan.

Yukina wasn't an easy lay, but he'd gotten caught up in Kisa. It wasn't only that he admired him as an artist, there was just something intoxicatingly sexy about him. It started with the kiss at the gallery and it just kept going as Kisa slept snuggly against his side.

There was, of course, that week Kisa avoided him. That was when Yukina figured out that Kisa didn't intend to have a relationship with him. Until the day Shiori found him and dragged him to their parents' house, Yukina had been depressed but not resentful.

He still, after all, loved the man. He'd only said it once, and Kisa most likely hadn't heard him. But you didn't sleep with a man multiple times, wait for him after work, take care of him when he was sick and invite him on a romantic vacation if you didn't have some pretty strong feeling for him.

"Excuse me!"

Yukina had been nodding off himself when a woman in a seat beside them turned. He had been surprised enough to jolt Kisa a little, but he put his arm around Kisa's waist and the man just kept sleeping.

Once Yukina was looking at her, the woman said, "Is he your little brother? He's really cute!"

Yukina of course knew this type of woman: the kind so infatuated with him that she missed details like Yukina attempting to go about his job or, in this case, the intimate way Yukina drew circles on Kisa's thigh. Yukina had an older brother, and no matter how close they were, they'd never acted like that with each other.

"No. This is my boyfriend," Yukina said, looking at Kisa with undisguised affection.

The woman was clearly confused by this statement, as evidenced by the way she just stared at him. Finally, her friend beside her hissed something at her that Yukina couldn't hear and pulled her so she was facing front again.

It wasn't true, necessarily, not if you asked Kisa, but if Kisa was allowed to use that card then he was as well.

xxx

Given the fact that it was summer vacation, there were a lot of kids running around town as Yukina led Kisa through. Since Yukina had said he spent every summer there growing up he expected to have run-ins with people who recognized him, but that never happened. They reached the rather large house without incident. It wasn't incredibly huge as Kisa had been expecting, but it still looked like they'd have plenty of room to move around.

As they stood there in the genkan, pulling off their shoes, Kisa reached up and tugged Yukina down into a kiss. Yukina returned it lazily, taking hold of Kisa's hands in a way that didn't quite seem like he knew what Kisa wanted and was going to stop him before he got too far with it.

Finally Kisa pulled away, his hands still firmly grasped in Yukina's. Yukina said, "Anyway, you'll have your own room. There should still be clean sheets in the dresser so…"

Kisa looked utterly confused at that. It wasn't like they'd never slept in a bed together. He'd been expecting them to share a bed, in fact. When Yukina saw Kisa's dismay, he smiled and leaned down so they could kiss again. He even let go of Kisa's hands.

"It would probably be easier to just share a bed you know," Kisa muttered against Yukina's lips as his hands wandered down the man's torso. They landed on his hips and Kisa cursed the fact that Yukina was so much taller than him; perhaps a handjob in the genkan wasn't the best foreplay idea in the world.

"Kisa-san?" Yukina asked when Kisa pulled out of the kiss and looked around, like there was something he needed. Then Kisa tugged him towards a couch that was there in the living room, abandoning their bags in the genkan to be found and put away later.

The next few seconds were a blur as they tangled in each other on the couch. Yukina's kisses started heading down, first to Kisa's chin, then his neck and collarbone, then down his chest after they worked together to get rid of his shirt. Kisa's eyes fell closed and he leaned against the back of the couch as Yukina licked and bit him all over, more than likely leaving marks that neither of them would care about later.

Finally he felt Yukina's hands on the front of his shorts, and he opened one eye lazily. "You don't have to do that you know," he said, but his voice was breathy and he wasn't going to protest if Yukina didn't listen to him. And he didn't, so as Yukina pulled down his shorts and underwear, Kisa just laid his head on the back of the couch again and enjoyed the slow strokes Yukina gave him to coax him into full arousal.

"Kisa-san…" Yukina said, looking up into his face. Kisa cracked one eye open to look at him, but Yukina shook his head and went about working. Kisa groaned as Yukina's mouth engulfed him. He wasn't nearly as good at suppressing his gag reflex as Kisa was, but he seemed to have been paying attention when Kisa did this to him because the way he worked his teeth and tongue made him seem experienced.

Kisa gripped Yukina's hair, but he didn't really need to do any directing because he was already close to his climax. It wasn't like he hadn't taken care of himself in the time he wasn't with Yukina, but it still felt amazing to have another man do it for him. He let slip small moans and groans, which just seemed to give Yukina more incentive. Before Kisa could even warn him he was done, and Yukina swallowed it without complaint.

"…sorry," Kisa said. He watched as Yukina got up off his knees and joined him on the couch. He didn't protest when the man wrapped his arms around him and pulled him over onto his lap, despite the fact that his pants and underwear were still around his ankles. It was his usual post-sex gesture and Kisa had come to see that it meant they were done. "Don't you want me to-"

"I'm okay, Kisa-san," Yukina said, running a hand down Kisa's torso and clasping his hands around the man's stomach. Kisa leaned into Yukina's body and placed his head on his shoulder, closing his eyes again. After a bit of comfortable silence, Yukina finally said, "Kisa-san, can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?" Kisa asked, sounding content.

Before Yukina could voice his question, his cell phone went off in his pocket. He looked rather annoyed that his opportunity had been taken away a second time, but he still let go of Kisa so he could answer it.

"Hello, Mama," Yukina said. Kisa looked a bit alarmed, even though it wasn't like Yukina's mother could see them as they were. He still wiggled away from Yukina's grasp and stood so he could pull his underwear and pants up. "Yes, we got here just fine." Silence. "Um, didn't I tell you? I brought someone with me." Yukina looked slightly distraught at what Kisa could only hear as a mumble on the other side of the call. "We're sleeping in separate rooms, Mama so even if we wanted to…"

"Maybe you don't want to but I do," Kisa muttered.

Yukina looked up. "What was that, Kisa-san?"

"I said I'm going to check out the deck!" Kisa said. He didn't even bother to pick up his sneakers at the genkan; he just slipped off his socks and went out on the wooden deck that overlooked the nearby ocean.

Yukina, in the meantime, was trying to explain to his mother why he had brought a man with him on what was essentially a romantic vacation.

"Um, that is, Kisa-san and I have been together for about a month," Yukina said, because that was easier than explaining the complicated _thing_ they had going where one minute Kisa was cuddling up to him and the next he was putting a person's worth of distance between them as they walked. "And he was able to come, so I thought it would be nice to spend time together out here."

Yukina's mother let out a long sigh, but it didn't sound like she was annoyed. Yukina had, after all, never really caused trouble for them. Even when he wanted to move to Tokyo for university, he had taken care of the arrangements himself and even gotten scholarships so they wouldn't have to pay the huge tuition that came with going to a prestigious place like T University. "You could've at least let us know, Kou," she said.

"I can send a picture of him if you'd like," Yukina said, glancing through the sliding glass doors. Kisa had taken up residence in a lounge chair and looked ready to fall asleep again.

Yukina's mother agreed, and he ended the call so he could take a picture with his phone and send it in a text to his mother. He was going to ask Kisa if it was okay, but by the time he got out there, Kisa was already fast asleep. So he just snapped and sent.

It was about two minutes later when his mother called again. Yukina had taken up residence in another lounge chair beside Kisa, and since Kisa was still asleep, he answered his phone as quickly as possible. "Did you get the picture, Mama?"

"…yes," his mother said. It only took Yukina about two seconds for him to realize what his mother was thinking. "You know we're supportive of you, Kou but isn't he a little… young?"

"…hold on, Mama, I'll get you another picture," Yukina said. He hated to wake Kisa up, but he had an idea.

So, the next picture he sent his mother was of Kisa scowling and holding up his ID, his birthday and year clearly visible.

Yukina's mother did not call after that. Kisa didn't seem to really mind that there was no answer to the rather annoying request Yukina had woken him up for.

"Ah, Kisa-san!" Yukina said, just remembering something. "You did pack a yukata, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Kisa mumbled, turning his gaze away from Yukina and looking like he just wanted to go back to sleep. "I don't see why I need one, though. Not like everyone at the festival is going to be dressed like that."

Yukina smiled and leaned over to Kisa's chair. There wasn't even half a foot's distance between them, so it wasn't that hard. When Kisa looked over, Yukina placed a kiss on his lips and said, "But I bet you look really cute in it, Kisa-san."

Kisa blushed and turned away. Then he said, "Didn't you want to ask something before your mother called?"

Yukina blinked twice before remembering his attempts to ask Kisa just what exactly their relationship was. Instead of picking up that thought, though, he took Kisa's hand and said, "It's not important."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Even Kisa could admit that the town was beautiful when it was all set up for the summer festival. By the time Yukina managed to get him to change into his yukata and go out, the sun was setting and people were out and about. Kisa at least felt less self-conscious when he saw how many people were actually wearing yukata. Kisa's own was simply a white number with different kanji symbols on it that Shiori had gotten him for his birthday one year. The sleeves, however, were too long and they were constantly falling over his hands.

Yukina, of course, was not one to keep quiet about what he thought of this. "You're really cute, Kisa-san," he said with a smile as Kisa tried to roll up the sleeves of his yukata for the millionth time since they'd gotten there. Kisa glared at him, but all Yukina did was lean down and kiss him despite anyone watching. "Would you like to get something to eat, since we didn't have dinner?"

Kisa huffed but nodded. "Fine."

Just down the way from the stand Yukina and Kisa were getting their food from, however, was a group of three girls. One of them was the same woman from the train who tried to talk to Yukina, and she spotted the two as Kisa paid for a sweet bun despite Yukina's protests that he should pay for the food. She sighed in what could be seen as an overly-dramatic way before biting a piece off of her kabob. She chewed it angrily before saying, "It's really not fair."

"What isn't?" one of her friends asked. She wasn't even looking where her friend was, so she had no reason to share in the angst.

The first girl sighed and said, "I sat near that guy on the train. It's not fair that he's so good looking but that he's gay."

The friend who'd asked the question looked over with interest. Yukina turned just in time for her to see his face, but he immediately turned to Kisa and smiled as he received a plate of takoyaki. "…that's Kou."

"Who?" the third friend asked, finally deciding to jump into the conversation.

"He was my first boyfriend," the second girl said. "And the first guy I ever had sex with."

There was a long silence between her and her friends. It was finally broken by the first girl, who said, "Hina, the first boy you ever had sex with is gay. And his boyfriend's cuter than you."

"He is not!" Hina said, sounding indignant.

They all turned to watch Yukina and Kisa. Kisa was eating the sweet bun with one hand, frowning as the cream oozed out the opposite end from where he was biting. The hand that wasn't occupied by food was occupied by Yukina's own free hand, Kisa's sleeve draping over both so that you couldn't actually see their hands.

Hina sighed and slouched onto a random bench as if the thought that her first boyfriend was gay was too much for her to handle. "We never really broke up, too." She paused at that, as if she thought her friends were going to ask her to go on. They didn't, but she did anyway. "We got together his last summer of high school and then… we lost touch, I guess. And he never came back with his parents after that." She was done after that, and she just slumped further down on the bench.

The third friend, who'd only had one or two lines since the conversation started, was watching Kisa and Yukina as they perused the stalls and displays. "That kid can't be older than eighteen. I would've thought you had better taste than that, Hina-chan."

All eyes turned to Kisa, who was still in a constant battle with the sweet bun and its oozing cream. He had some on his mouth by then too, and he flicked his tongue out to lick it off as he kept his eyes on Yukina, who was chatting away.

Hina's second friend ducked her head and said, "That kid doesn't even seem to be aware of his… uh… sex appeal. And Kou's a pervert."

Hina frowned. "He was always such a gentleman when we were together, though. I can't imagine he's changed _that much_. Maybe you just misunderstood, Aya." Her eyes went to her first friend, the one who'd met Yukina on the train.

"No, he said right out that the kid was his boyfriend," Aya said, shrugging.

The three girls looked at each other, and they all seemed to get the same idea at the same time. Kisa and Yukina were further down by then, and they all got up off the bench and made a break for it, stopping at the last second and hiding around a corner before Kisa or Yukina could see them.

Meanwhile, the two had stopped at one of the game stands. It was simply a dart gun target game, where the closer to the bull's-eye you shot your dart, the bigger stuffed animal you could choose.

"I can win something by myself, Yukina," Kisa said, sounding indignant as Yukina paid for a chance and was handed the gun. "Seriously, I'm not a girl."

"I know, Kisa-san, but I want to," Yukina said. He turned away from Kisa, ignoring the strange look that the guy running the stand gave them, and aimed the gun. He wasn't as good of a shot as he might have thought, however, because in eight rings including the middle, it landed in the third from the middle.

Despite the fact that Kisa looked rather put-out by the entire thing, he still held tightly to the rabbit doll Yukina picked out for him when he said he didn't care about the prize. When Yukina smiled brightly at him, however, he thrust the rabbit at Yukina and took out some coins of his own to give it a try.

As the man who ran the stand handed Kisa the gun, Kisa glanced over. He could've sworn he saw something out of the corner of his eye, but when he looked, there wasn't anything or anyone in particular. He just shrugged, and like Yukina before him, aimed.

Unlike Yukina before him, however, he hit the bull's-eye dead-center. He ended up picking a bigger version of the rabbit plushie Yukina had chosen for him. Instead of keeping it, however, he took the one Yukina had won back and thrust the bigger one at him.

"You can have both if you want, Kisa-san," Yukina said, sounding a bit surprised.

Kisa shook his head. "Please, I could've gotten that with both eyes closed."

"Did you do a lot of shooting when you were younger?"

"Just simple things like that dart gun, yeah," Kisa said, shrugging. "I'd bring Shiori to festivals like this and I'd always win her stuffed animals. I think she still has most of them, too." He thought about it for a second before adding, "That teddy bear Shizuko never took home is one of them, I think." He held the smaller rabbit plushie in front of him, grasped in both arms and his chin resting on top of it as they walked.

Yukina smiled, and he let go of his own plushie with one arm so he could reach over and turn Kisa's chin for a kiss.

When he pulled away, Kisa was frowning. "What was that for?" he asked.

"Do I need a reason to kiss you, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked. This just made Kisa's frown deepen, and Yukina averted his eyes, actually looking like Kisa's protests were effecting him. They walked together in silence for about half a minute before Kisa suddenly turned around. "What's the matter, Kisa-san?"

"Those three have been following us," Kisa said. He'd turned fast enough so that Hina and her friends didn't have time to hide, and they hung their heads like they'd been caught doing something bad- which they had, in a way, since they were pretty much stalking Yukina and Kisa. "Is there any reason for your interest in us?"

Yukina's eyes registered recognition, however, and he smiled. "Hello, Hina-chan. I haven't seen you since the last time I was here."

Hina was blushing to the tips of her ears, but since they had been seen, there wasn't really any use in trying to ignore them. So she and her friends walked up. "I actually go to school in Tokyo now but I never see you…"

"That's too bad, but if you're still there after the summer I'm sure we could meet up…" Yukina looked like he wanted to say more, but Kisa was giving him a rather interesting glare. "Ah, Hina-chan, this is Kisa Shouta. He's staying with me at my family's vacation house for a few days."

There was an awkward moment while they all bowed to each other, but then Hina said, "It's nice that you brought him here for his summer vacation, Kou. I'm guessing he lives in Tokyo as well."

Yukina frowned, not really liking how Hina talked about Kisa like he wasn't there. So he said, "Um, Hina-chan, Kisa-san isn't in school."

"So he left after junior high?"

Kisa sighed and reached for his wallet, which he kept in the draw string bag Yukina had bought for him right at the start of the festival, saying it was safer than stashing it in his obi. "Actually, I'm thirty-four." At that he pulled out his ID, because he knew that Hina wouldn't believe him otherwise. His own mother probably wouldn't believe that he was thirty-four if she didn't remember with almost vendetta-like clarity the day she gave birth to him.

There was another awkward silence as Hina's friends gathered around her so they could get a look at his ID as well. Hina turned it over in her hands, as if she was trying to make sure it was real. Kisa added, "It's real. If I was going to lie about my age, do you really think I'd tell people I was in my mid-thirties?"

Aya snickered. "And you were saying Kou was a pervert, Nana," she said. "He's not going out with an underage boy, he's going out with an old man."

Kisa froze at that. It wasn't like he wasn't aware of his own age, but it hit a sore spot when people said things like that. Before he knew it, though, Yukina had put an arm around his shoulders. "Age doesn't really matter though, wouldn't you say?" he asked.

Hina beat Aya over the shoulder with her paper fan and made a quick excuse before they made a get-away so fast it would've made the Roadrunner jealous. Kisa, for his part, was still frowning, but some part of him was willing to admit that the arm around his shoulder was helping him to feel better. He squeezed the bunny plushie in his arms and let out a sigh. "Ah I really am getting old, aren't I?"

Yukina smiled. "You're only as old as you feel, Kisa-san," he said. Then he leaned down. "Besides, I really do like you just the way you are, Kisa-san."

"Ha, I'll probably have a bad back when you're just turning thirty, though," Kisa said.

Yukina didn't say anything right away. Kisa was avoiding his eyes and didn't look like he wanted to make this easy. Eventually, though, Yukina smiled and said, "I think by that point, you'll still look younger than me, though."

"Ha, my mother always said that I won't get a single wrinkle in my life."

"Your father did look rather good for his age," Yukina remarked. He pulled his arm away from Kisa's shoulders and they kept walking. By that point, though, it was getting rather late, so he said, "Do you want to just go back to the house, Kisa-san?"

Kisa nodded. For once, though, jumping Yukina wasn't the first thing that came to mind. The first thing on Kisa's mind, it seemed as they headed out of the festival area, was convincing him that they did, indeed, need to sleep in the same bed. They hadn't the previous night, and Kisa had felt at least somewhat lonely.

Not that he'd ever admit that.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

When they got back to the house, Kisa didn't let much time go by before he dragged Yukina into one of the bedrooms (he wasn't sure which of theirs it was, and he didn't necessarily care). Yukina closed the door behind him as Kisa pulled him towards the bed, hands wrapped around his neck to pull his head down in a kiss since the yukata didn't offer as good a grip as a regular shirt might.

Before they could go tumbling onto the bed, though, Kisa pulled away from the kiss and pressed their foreheads together. He wouldn't look directly at Yukina, but his expression was one Yukina wasn't used to.

"Kisa-san?" Yukina asked. He had his hands on either side of Kisa's face and had been enjoying himself until he noticed Kisa's expression. "Is something wrong?"

"Do you really believe what you told those girls?" Kisa asked, his voice barely above a mumble. When Yukina looked confused, he added, "That age doesn't matter."

Yukina smiled and dropped his hand down to the front of Kisa's yukata, where he could slip it beneath the fabric. Kisa flinched as Yukina ghosted his fingers over his chest and then leaned farther down, kissing his neck. "Others may care, but I don't see why I should."

Kisa blushed as Yukina gently kissed his neck and used his hands to undo his obi. It took a bit of work, but after it was untied and unfolded, neither man cared that it just fell to the floor rather than was put somewhere safe. Without a way to hold it in place, Kisa's yukata simply hung from his body like a robe. Instead of taking the rest off, though, Yukina surprised Kisa by sweeping him up in his arms.

"Yukina what the _hell_," Kisa demanded. He flailed as Yukina held him under his armpits and knees. All this did was make the yukata fall off him even more, and it would've been completely gone if Kisa didn't still have his arms in its sleeves. Yukina set him down on the bed, and Kisa finally realized that he had pulled Yukina into Yukina's own room; he could tell from the sketchbooks that lay open around them. Kisa hadn't even thought to bring any of his own. Kisa was still blushing as he said, "And anyway, why wouldn't you care?"

Yukina undid his own obi and let it slip to the floor with Kisa's, then removed his yukata. Kisa couldn't help but let his eyes rake over Yukina's mostly exposed body, but Yukina ignored it in favor of climbing atop him. "I just don't. Do you care that I'm so much younger than you?" Kisa looked reluctant but still shook his head. Yukina laid down, engulfing Kisa with his much larger body and laying his head on the older man's shoulder. He refused to let Kisa see his conflicted expression as he said, "I love you, Kisa-san."

Kisa's eyes dropped as he looked at Yukina. The man was so honest, the complete opposite of Kisa, who felt the need to keep his feelings and opinions in and just adapt to what those around him wanted. He knew that Yukina didn't expect that of him, though; he could've told the man he hated him and refused to talk to him until he could go back home.

He didn't do or say any of that, though. He didn't say anything, in fact, and when Yukina noticed this, he pulled away from Kisa and looked regretful.

"I'm sorry, Kisa-san," he said with a smile, but it looked hollow. He put his hand to Kisa's boxers and steadily stroked through the fabric, and Kisa couldn't help but whimper. "This is what you wanted, right?"

"Ngh, Yukina," Kisa said, and he was tempted to let it keep going. It took all his willpower to grasp Yukina's hand and move it away before he reached up and kissed him. Yukina's mouth opened when Kisa pushed his tongue against his bottom lip, and he sucked at Yukina's own tongue before pulling away. "…I've kind of proved I'm not that good at expressing myself."

"Kisa-san…" Yukina didn't dare touch Kisa, in case Kisa decided to snap at him and storm away.

"And out of all the men I've been with, I've never told one I love him," Kisa muttered, sitting up and pulling his knees to his chest. He wasn't going to tell this to Yukina, either, at least not right then. He had spent so much time telling himself and others that whatever he and Yukina had, it wasn't a proper relationship, so he wasn't really ready to do that. But he couldn't deny that he cared, and so he crawled onto Yukina's lap and just curled up against him, letting Yukina's body engulf him again. He sighed in a defeated way and said, "Ichinose was right."

"Hmm?" Yukina asked. After Kisa's gesture, his mood had gone up significantly, and he was now stroking the man's hair in a lazy sort of way.

A smile came over Kisa's face, but it looked rather irritated. "I was going on a vacation with my boyfriend."

Yukina blinked rapidly. He hadn't expected that response. He even stopped his hand from moving through Kisa's hair. He tipped Kisa's head up so they were forced to look each other in the eye and said, "Do you really mean that, Kisa-san?"

Kisa averted his eyes. "Yeah." He soon found himself on his back, though, with Yukina kissing him hotly. "Yukina I didn't-" The hand reaching down the front of his boxers was a rather convincing argument to just shut up and go with it, though.

At least until they both heard the front door open.

"…my mother got here earlier than she said," Yukina remarked. He didn't notice the way Kisa's face lit up with another blush. He did, however, have the sense to realize, "You don't have clothes in here do you, Kisa-san?"

"No," Kisa mumbled, suddenly feeling entirely too exposed. He wrapped his arms around his chest so Yukina couldn't see his nipples, as if they hadn't had sex or at least seen each other in that capacity plenty of times before. His eyes went to the door to the master bathroom, and he said, "Could you bring me some? I'm… gonna take a shower."

"Of course, Kisa-san," Yukina said with a smile. He watched as Kisa quickly scuttled over to the bathroom and shut the door, but he didn't hear the lock so at least he'd actually be able to go in there later with Kisa's pajamas.

"Kou?" And there was his mother's voice. At least she had waited until Kisa was taken care of and they weren't all over each other or something. Not that Yukina would've minded his mother knowing they were doing something like that, but Kisa seemed a bit reluctant. Perhaps he had more shame than he liked to admit.

Yukina, however, did not bother putting on clothes. He opened the door and went out to see his mother was still holding an overnight bag while he had nothing but his boxers on, and when she saw him, she looked somewhat startled. "Just what were you doing, Kou?"

"…I was just changing, Mama," he said, stopping himself from telling the truth. He doubted his mother would've liked to know that he was about to ravish his boyfriend when she came in. "Kisa-san and I went to the festival today, so I was wearing a yukata."

The sides of Yukina's mother's face quirked up in a smile, and she went over and hugged her son. He was so much taller than her, but it didn't seem awkward for her at all. "You really do need to visit more, Kou."

"I'm sorry, Mama," Yukina said with a sheepish smile. "I work, though, and Hokkaido is kind of a big trip to make."

"I know. I just made it." Yukina's mother rolled her eyes. "And where exactly is Kisa-san?"

"He's taking a shower," Yukina said, his eyes going to the bedroom door. "Ah, since it's late, why don't you go put your things away, Mama? I'll move Kisa-san's things out of the other bedroom so you don't have to sleep on the couch."

As Yukina's mother was getting settled in, Kisa was, of course, in the shower. He had thought about taking care of himself in there, before he realized just how awkward that would be with Yukina's mother right in the other room. As it was, he was glaring at the shampoo, conditioner and body wash bottles that Yukina had left behind. They were all fruity things that Kisa would never wear willingly use himself.

He couldn't really hear what was going on in the rest of the house over the shower, but he did hear when Yukina slipped into the room and said, "I brought you some night clothes, Kisa-san."

"Thanks." He smiled for a second, but then he opened up the shower door just enough so he could poke his head out without losing the heat and steam. "Is your mother really here?"

"Yes. She called me earlier today to say she planned to come, but she said she wouldn't be here tomorrow. I suppose she found an earlier train or something…" When he saw Kisa's scowl, he smiled sheepishly and said, "I'm sorry, Kisa-san. I probably should've told you, but I couldn't really find a time to do it."

Kisa glanced at him in disbelief, considering the fact that there had been plenty of time to tell him; it wasn't like they had done anything in particular that day besides sit out on the deck and kiss each other in what Kisa had attempted to make a day of nothing but sex. It had, quite obviously, not worked since Kisa had been thinking about jerking off in the shower.

He didn't say any of that to Yukina, though. Instead, he sighed and said, "I'll be out in a few minutes so… I guess just tell your mother she gets to meet me tonight."

Yukina's eyes lit up, and he actually kissed Kisa right there in the shower. Kisa spluttered and looked indignant, but Yukina said, "I will, Kisa-san!"

Kisa sighed and leaned against the wall after Yukina ran out of the bathroom, intent on telling his mother that she shouldn't go to bed yet if she wanted to meet Kisa-san. He didn't hear the results, since he closed the shower door and went about cleaning himself.

It was, if he had to be completely honest, going way too fast for him. He hadn't even been planning to acknowledge to Yukina that they were a couple, and all-of-a-sudden his mother was there, wanting to meet him. It was like now that he actually thought about it, it was all happening in hyper drive to make up for the month that he had only been in a sexual relationship with the guy.

It didn't take him long to wash his hair and body, so after that, he mostly just lurked in the shower. The hot water didn't seem to be on a timer, though, so he couldn't just stand there until it turned cold and use that as his excuse to get out. Eventually he had to muster the will to do it himself, and he dried himself and put on the draw-string sweatpants and short-sleeved shirt Yukina had picked out for him to wear.

Yukina's eyes lit up when he saw Kisa emerge from the master bedroom. He and his mother had been sitting at the table, with a tea kettle boiling on the stove. He got up from his seat and walked over to Kisa. "Mama, this is Kisa Shouta."

"It's good to meet you," Kisa said, bowing. "If I knew you were coming I would've taken my shower earlier. Sorry." No one could say Kisa didn't know how to make up excuses to cover up the fact that he had been having sex with someone just twenty minutes earlier.

Yukina had the sense to look sheepish, at least, but his mother ignored him. "Kou says you two are dating?"

Kisa glanced over at Yukina, who was, to his credit, doing his best to look nonchalant. "Um, yes," Kisa said, feeling the blush creep up onto his face.

Yukina's mother sighed and shook her head. "Honestly, that good-for-nothing son doesn't tell me anything anymore," she said with an eye roll. "Although I still have a hard time believing you're thirty-four."

"Well it's true," Kisa said with a laugh. Somehow, he felt more comfortable talking about his age with this woman than he did with the girls from earlier. "Yukina and I actually went to the same university, but several years apart obviously."

"Kisa-san is the one who made that painting I showed you a while back. Remember, Mama?" Yukina asked as he attended to the tea over at the stove. "The one of the house."

"Ah, of course I remember. You were so enthusiastic about that thing I thought you were going to explode." Then she eyed Kisa. "That's how you met?"

"Well, it's how we got together, I guess," Kisa said, averting his eyes. "I work in a café and he came in with a friend."

Yukina smiled as he went over and draped an arm around Kisa's shoulders. "I suppose you could say it was love at first sight for me." He laughed when Kisa looked indignant and left him so he could pour tea for all of them.

"He's always been a romantic. You should see the collection of shojo manga he left behind when he moved out for college," Yukina's mother said with an affectionate smile.

Somehow, Kisa believed it.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Kisa had a five am shift the day he'd be going back to work, so he thought it would be a good idea to sleep on the train back to Tokyo again. The difference between then and the first time, though, was that Yukina's mother was there with them. Apparently she was taking a vacation herself, and she wanted to go into Tokyo for a couple days. This made it slightly harder for Kisa to be comfortable just laying his head on Yukina's shoulder and falling asleep.

Of course it didn't help that the previous day, Kisa and Yukina had spent an excruciating amount of time trying to have sex, and Yukina's mother had managed to interrupt them each and every time. The first time was when they woke up, having shared a bed so Yukina's mother could have her own room. Yukina's mother had gone to the door, which had thankfully been locked the previous night, and pointed out to them that it was almost ten o'clock and that they didn't need to be laying in bed all day.

The second time had happened when she had mentioned going to the store to get ingredients so she could make them a homemade meal; she had looked rather indignant when Kisa had said that they had gone out to eat for their meals before she got there. When Kisa had said they could just stay there, Yukina's mother had insisted the two go with her. Yukina clearly understood that Kisa wanted to have sex with him and had tried to decline, but in the end, he was a gentleman and also apparently under his mother's thumb.

The third time had been in the shower; Kisa had gone to take one and heavily implied to Yukina that he should join him. The walls were fairly thick so if they used the master bathroom rather than the one in the hall, they could get away with it without Yukina's mother even hearing them. That hadn't exactly worked, though. She ended up wanting to go see some friends that she hadn't talked with in a while, and since Yukina hadn't been going with her to the vacation house for several years, she had thought he should go with her. It was the perfect opportunity, after all, since Kisa was doing something else, anyway.

By that time, Kisa had been tempted to tell her, "Could you just give us ten minutes alone while your son fucks me?" Of course he hadn't said that; Kisa worked with the public, and he knew what to say and when to say it. Telling your boyfriend's mother to piss off so you two can have sex isn't exactly the best first impression in the world. Then again, according to Yukina, his first impression had been made when he sent a picture of him to her. She had, like almost everyone else he had met since his twenties, thought he was a teenager. It was the first time a parent had had to worry about one of his partners dating a teenager, though.

Kisa sighed and leaned back in his seat, glancing over at Yukina. The younger man had a giant pair of headphones over his ears, and Kisa couldn't help but think it made him look more like a college student on a summer break trip than a working man. Maybe he and Kisa really did go well together. Not that anyone had ever made comments about how well they went together; just that they were together, even if Kisa didn't think so.

"Are you tired, Kisa-san?" Yukina asked. Kisa had been lost in his thoughts enough so that he didn't notice that Yukina had noticed his staring. Kisa shook his head, but he still yawned and leaned his head against the seat's headrest. "You can sleep if you want, Kisa-san. I'll wake you up when we're back in Tokyo."

Kisa eyed Yukina's mother. She hadn't managed to get a seat right next to them, but she was within hearing distance. She was reading a book, though, and looked to be appropriately distracted. "You want to come over to my apartment when we get back?"

Yukina tilted his head and removed his headphones. "I suppose. But we just spent the past few days with each other. You're not tired of me?"

"We just spent the past few days getting interrupted every time we tried to have sex. No, I'm not tired of you." Kisa eyed Yukina's mother one last time, and that seemed to have caught her attention. She looked between the two like she had no idea what Kisa was talking about. Then, as if she had just gotten it, she blushed and ducked her head. She looked like she had gone back to her book, but her eyes were still up, watching Yukina and Kisa like they might jump each other then and there.

Yukina smiled in a sheepish way and took Kisa's hand. "I'd love to come over, Kisa-san. I can stay the night if you want me to."

Kisa yawned and finally leaned his head on Yukina's shoulder. "That'd be nice."

xxx

Kisa slept the rest of the way on the train, and when they got to his apartment, the first thing he did was tug Yukina to the bedroom. He expected it to be quick, since he doubted Yukina wasn't extremely pent up as well, so he was surprised when they got each other's clothes off and Yukina just laid there, holding him.

"Uh, Yukina?" Kisa asked, reaching down to grip his exposed erection. They were facing each other so he could at least do that much. "If you're tired I can just do it myself."

"No, Kisa-san," Yukina said, and he leaned down and kissed him. After he broke it, he reached down and took hold of Kisa as well. "I'm just really happy."

"Ha, considering we were together for about three days and didn't get to do much of this, I can see why," Kisa said. The look on Yukina's face made it obvious he was completely missing the point. "What?"

Yukina just smiled and rolled them over so that he was on top. Kisa had already taken lube out of the drawer by his bed, and after preparing him, Yukina put on a condom and covered it in lubricant. "Kisa-san…" When he caught Kisa's eye, he just shook his head and carefully pushed in. "I'm not stupid, you know."

Kisa was flinching a little as he got used to Yukina being inside him; it'd been a few weeks, after all, and having slept around so much still didn't prepare him for things like this. "I never said you were."

"But you didn't seem to think we were together, Kisa-san," Yukina said. He started thrusting, slowly at first before picking up the pace. "And you seemed to think I wasn't aware of that, either."

"Well you certainly acted like we were together," Kisa said. He was breathing hard, and he let out a small moan as Yukina finally hit the right spot. "Cooking for me, cleaning my apartment with me, taking care of me when I was sick."

Yukina reached down, taking Kisa's erection in one hand and weaving his fingers with Kisa's with the other. At that point Kisa was thrusting forward, whimpering as he got closer and closer to his climax. "I did those things because I love you, Kisa-san," Yukina said. "And I did think we were together. At least until you decided to avoid me."

Kisa cracked one eye open, but Yukina's only expression was pleasure. "Then why did you come after me, and invite me out to the Rainbow Bridge and to the vacation home?"

"I just wanted to be around you, Kisa-san." He didn't say anything more, though, instead scrunching his eyes and letting his mouth fall open with a moan as he came. He kept thrusting and pumping Kisa's erection until he was done as well, making a mess of his stomach and Yukina's right hand before he was finally spent.

Kisa was blushing, but it was only in part from the exertion. Once Yukina had taken care of himself and cleaned up Kisa, the two ended up just laying there on Kisa's bed, staring up at the ceiling. After a few minutes, Kisa reluctantly reached over and brushed his fingers over Yukina's hand. Yukina was the one to link them together again, though. "You mean that?"

"Did I mean what?"

"That you just wanted to be around me."

"Of course, Kisa-san." Yukina smiled, rubbing a thumb over Kisa's hand. "And you never pushed me away. So I suppose I was taking what I could get."

Kisa looked thoughtful at that, and then he finally sat up. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes." Yukina didn't elaborate, mostly because he was watching Kisa's backside as the older man went around to collect his clothes.

"I think I have stuff to make vegetable fried rice…" Kisa didn't look at Yukina at that.

"I thought you hated healthy stuff like that, Kisa-san," Yukina said, finally getting out of the bed.

"I'm willing to give it a chance!" Kisa huffed and was out of the room, presumably to get out the ingredients for their dinner.

Yukina smiled again. Kisa was so cute.


End file.
